Rigging allegations: Panel can emerge in a week, says Dar

Says PTI, govt differ on ‘two words’

ISLAMABAD:

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has reservations over the use of ‘only two words’ in the proposed for draft for formation of a judicial commission to probe into alleged rigging in the May 2013 general elections.

Addressing a news conference on Saturday, Dar said the matter could be resolved in half an hour, if PTI Chairman Imran Khan “sits calmly and reviews the whole situation seriously”. The government can form the commission through an ordinance in seven working days, he added.

Dar said overall three sections of the proposed draft of ordinance have not yet been agreed upon between the two parties but the scope of the commission was the sticking point.“The PTI and the PML-N have so far shared four drafts regarding scope of the commission but the PTI is neither willing to adhere to the allegations leveled by its leader Imran Khan that the elections were ‘rigged and stolen by design, systematically and on an overall basis’ nor to accept PML-N’s point of view which has also been endorsed by the rest of 20 political parties in the parliament,” he said.

He said in the last draft which he exchanged with PTI’s lawmaker Asad Umra during his meeting on January 20, the government showed maximum flexibility on scope of the JC.

The latest draft says the commission shall inquire into and determine whether rigging was done “on an overall basis and by manipulation’ and that the 2013 elections were not conducted impartially, honestly, fairly, justly and in accordance with law and corrupt practices were not guarded against”.

The draft explains ‘manipulation’ as “a conspiracy to aid, abet or commit through a systematic plan not to hold 2013 general elections in an impartial, honest, fair, just manner, which to the satisfaction of the commission and had a material effect on the outcome of the said election as a whole”.

He said the government has proposed that the commission findings be in ‘yes or no’.  “We are proposing this because if the commission finds systematic irregularities, loopholes or flaws, which the electoral reform committee is engaged in removing, then the PTI may use the findings as a propagation tool of rigging in previous elections,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2015.