Protests against ‘rigging’ continue

Balochistan hit hardest; Sindh witnesses demonstrations

QUETTA:

Widespread protests in Balochistan, Sindh, and other parts of the country against the alleged rigging in the 2024 general elections held on Feb 8 entered their fourth consecutive day on Monday.

Political parties, including the National Party, PPP, JUI, BAP, BNP-Mengal, PkMAP, and PkNAP, staged protest demonstrations engulfing major thoroughfares and district returning offices, demanding recounts and challenging the declared outcomes.

Balochistan appeared to be cut off from the rest of the country as candidates who did not make their way to the provincial assembly continued to block highways.

"Our protest will continue until justice is served," Mir Kabeer Muhammad Shahi, the central leader of the NP, said while addressing a demonstration outside the deputy commissioner's office in Quetta on Monday.

Four political parties, including the BNP-M, PkMAP, and the Hazara Democratic Party (HDP), announced joint protest demonstrations against the alleged election rigging in the province.

"We are determined to get our voters' rights," Haji Atta Muhammad Bangulzai, another leader of the NP, said. He claimed his victory was turned into defeat by the returning officer.

The protesters have blocked the main Anscomb Road Chowk in Quetta's high security zone suspending traffic in the city.

They also established a joint protest camp to mount pressure on the Election Commission of Pakistan to reconsider its results about their constituencies.

"The ROs snatched our democratic right," Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal, the central leader of PkMAP, said.
He said the ROs and the ECP were responsible for what he called “record rigging in the province”.

Various political parties, including the Awami National Party, JUI and some candidates blocked main highways linking Balochistan with Karachi, Sindh, Punjab and other parts of the country.

Common people were the worst affected by the blockade of highways in Balochistan.

"We are at the mercy of protesters for the last two days," Abdul Shakoor, one of the passengers stranded in Kalat, told The Express Tribune via telephone.

Shakoor said that women, children, senior citizens and patients were suffering because of the blockade.

The PTI also levelled serious allegations, claiming that it was deprived of three National Assembly and nine provincial assembly seats.

The political parties have also announced a joint shutter-down strike on Tuesday across Balochistan in this regard.

In Sindh, the political parties also protested against the alleged rigging. The PTI staged a demonstration outside the ECP headquarters, the JUI blocked road links in the province, and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) staged sit-ins in various parts of Karachi.

The JUI leaders and workers barricaded the highway that connects Sindh and Balochistan, claiming that the results of the polls on Feb 8 were rigged to benefit the PPP. They warned that the protests would continue if a fair vote recount was not conducted.

The JI organised sit-ins at eight significant junctions in Karachi, calling on the ECP to renounce the “fake results” of the general elections.

Meanwhile, in Islamabad, the capital police has asserted that Section 144 is in force in the city and that legal action will be taken against any illegal assembly of people. "Some people are inciting illegal gatherings around the election commission office and other government institutions. It should be noted that incitement to gather is also a crime," it said on social media platform X.(With input from News Desk)