Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa polls under biometric system: Imran

Says process will make polls fairer, use of indelible ink an outdated method.

ISLAMABAD: The government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) has decided to hold local bodies’ elections under the biometric system to replace the age-old indelible ink applied on voters’ thumbs during elections.

“Decision to hold polls under biometric system in K-P was taken to make electoral process fairer,” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan told a press conference on Tuesday.

Developed democracies like India using biometrics are witnessing fair elections and no one ever raised a finger over the transparency of polls, he added.

The use of indelible ink is an out-dated method, he said adding the biometric system would be more suitable for local body polls. He again demanded the government to verify thumb impression of four constituencies which, according to him, prove how the May 11 polls were rigged.

The verification of thumbprints of voters by the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) will prove to be a litmus test for the National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, he observed. Sadiq won a parliament seat from the NA-122 constituency in Lahore against Imran Khan.

Similarly, senior Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, and Sadiq Baloch will face legal proceedings, if bogus voting can be proved through thumbprint verification their constituencies.

“We believe that this investigation of fingerprints will show the nation how PTI’s mandate was stolen,” Imran said. To a question, he said that it would clearly show how many bogus votes had been cast in these constituencies and whether the poll results in these constituencies had been tampered.

On Monday, a three-member judge bench of the apex court ordered the registrar’s office to fix PTI chairman Imran Khan’s civil miscellaneous petition in Workers Party of Pakistan’s case within seven days for regular hearing.

Reaction over Hagel’s statement

Shireen Mazari, PTI’s central Information secretary, gave a strong response to US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel's threats of stopping aid if Nato supply route via Torkham remains blocked.

Threats given to Pakistan on Pakistani soil reflected the diktat the US continues to issue to Pakistan. She said Hagel totally ignored the main issue of drones which is the cause of the Nato supply route blockage in K-P by PTI and its allies.

As for the threat of stopping US military assistance, she stated that Hagel seemed unaware of the fact that Pakistan's strategic weapons, barring the F16s, are not US made or US-dependent. Our missiles, nuclear warheads, submarines, JF Thunder, tanks and so on are all non-US-dependent. “If Secretary Hagel thinks our military will be traumatised by this threat, he should think again,” Mazari said.

Pakistan's defence preparedness and deterrence has functioned well and developed for decades without US military assistance, she said.

"As for the threat of withholding the Coalition Support Fund, Secretary Hagel should realise that this is the money the US owes to Pakistan for services rendered. It is not aid or a favour the US is doing,” she added.