GDA plans mass sit-in against ‘poll rigging’
The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) is gearing up to stage a sit-in Hyderabad on February 16 against alleged irregularities in general election.
The party has invited opponents of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the province to participate in the protest.
GDA leader and Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT) head, Ayaz Latif Palijo, extended invitations on Tuesday to Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party (STP) to join the sit-in protest at Hyderabad Bypass.
Reportedly, Palijo held discussions over the phone with JI's Hafiz Naeemur Rehman and STP's chairman Dr Qadir Magsi, informing them that the alliance's leader Pir Pagara Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi, who also leads the spiritual Hurr Jamaat, will spearhead the sit-in.
Palijo asserted that hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend the protest to voice their opposition to the alleged electoral malpractices.
Read JI, GDA toughen stance against poll rigging in Sindh
"Pakistan's establishment seems to have disregarded the lessons from the partition of Bengal," he remarked, condemning the filing of FIRs against GDA's election candidates.
Meanwhile, at a press conference in Larkana district, GDA's Moazzam Abbassi and Jamaat-e-Ulema-Islam-Fazl's (JUI-F) provincial leader Nasir Khalid Mehmood Soomro highlighted Pagara's recent press conference, which they claimed, has exposed the extent of rigging.
"The primary purpose of elections is to foster stability in the country, but the post-election stock exchange downturn reflects a different reality," Abbassi remarked.
Soomro emphasised discrepancies between the results reported in Form 45 by presiding officers and those in Form 47 provided by Returning Officers. He stated that JUI-F is advocating for a nationwide re-conduct of general elections.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th 2024.