2013 election ‘rigging’: Imran Khan calls for ‘trial of troika’

Says fair polls not possible until PML-N chief, ex-CJP and Geo’s owner are tried.

FAISALABAD:

The head of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan on Sunday called for the trial of a powerful troika  comprising Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N), former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and Mir Shakilur Rehman  for alleged “rigging” and “stealing the public mandate”.

“If the troika is not punished for their wrongdoings, the ideal of transparent elections will never be realised,” he told a huge public meeting at Dhobi Ghatt.

Imran announced that the PTI ‘tsunami’ would continue to struggle for the trial of “election fixers” and formation of an independent and impartial election commission for transparent polls in the country.

“A free, fair and transparent system of elections is a prerequisite for the promotion of democracy and without it an electoral exercise would be nothing but a farce,” he said.

Imran claimed that the entire country had lost trust and confidence in the Election Commission of Pakistan and it should be reconstituted so that all forms of rigging could be dismantled in future.

“The May 11 general elections were manipulated and the election commission failed to check all such manipulation and malpractices,” he said.

He said he demanded verification of ballots in four constituencies as he knew that everything would become crystal clear if verification was carried out in these constituencies.

Visibly happy over the huge turnout at the public meeting, the PTI chief spoke for almost 35 minutes and announced that the next public meeting would be held at Sialkot on June 7, adding that the mass movement would continue until his targets were achieved.

He said that though the PML-N had ruled Punjab five times and the centre three times, it had not brought any improvement in the life of the ordinary people.

“The price of electricity has been doubled in one year and is regularly going up. Circular debt has again risen to Rs300 billion. What has become of your promise to bring improvements and eliminate load-shedding?” asked Imran.

He said the PML-N leadership had promised not to take foreign  loans or accept handouts. “But after coming into power, it has broken all records in terms of acquiring foreign loans and have acquired a loan of 50 billion dollars against 60 billion dollars in 64 years,” he added.

Criticising Nawaz Sharif, he said he was living like a king, was spending Rs400 million on Raiwind’s security and purchased two BMW cars costing Rs240 million.

“How can such rulers resolve the public problems? They are enjoying their lives with the hard-earned money of the public, who are deprived of all basic amenities”.

PTI central leader Javed Hashmi said his party had launched a mass movement for securing the rights of the youth, the deprived and oppressed classes and ensuring the rule of law, equity and justice.

“We waited for a whole year with patience and knocked at all doors for justice but our demands were ignored,” he said, adding that the party was left with no option but to directly take verdict of the public.

PTI’s Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that those who were claiming that the party’s public meetings would derail the democracy were mistaken. “I tell the youth that there is no danger of democracy due to the PTI public contact movements; rather it will strengthen due to these rallies,” he said.

Addressing the public meeting, Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed predicted that the government was likely to fall before Eidul Azha.

“I predict there will be a Qurbani (sacrifice) of this government before the Eid-e-Qurban”, Sheikh Rasheed said.


Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2014.