Qureshi terms upcoming polls ‘mock elections’

Former foreign minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Senior Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi has termed the upcoming polls “mock elections”, saying that the exercise is a waste of money

“Democracy is being strangled and the Constitution is being mocked,” Qureshi said while talking to the media at the Adiala Jail on Saturday.

The former minister appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan and the chief election commissioner to consider the PTI’s demand of providing a level-playing field.

Targeting the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Qureshi said that the Pakistan Peoples Party chairman was supporting the PTI's stand that the Avenfield apartments in London were built with corruption money.

On the other hand, Qureshi accused the PPP of using the resources of the Sindh local government for the upcoming general elections, adding that PML-N’s Nehal Hashmi and the Grand Democratic Alliance were saying the same.

On the issue of level-playing field, Qureshi said eight people were arrested during a raid at his house in Multan and the election material of his daughter and son was taken away.

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“What is happening against us is not a level-playing field. Where will we take our complaint? From where will we get justice?”

Qureshi said, “Even the British and Ranjit Singh had not crossed the threshold of my 125-year-old house.”

On the “injustice being meted out to the PTI”, Qureshi said veteran politician Javed Hashmi's house was attacked and “our meeting was stopped”.

Comparing the treatment with that being provided to other political parties, the PTI senior vice chairman said the PML-N and the PPP had been given open permission to hold meetings.

“What kind of election is this?” he asked, adding that the nation and the world would not accept the elections in such an environment as “our fundamental rights are being violated”.