Stance vindicated: ‘PTI’s long struggle finally bearing fruit’

‘Tribunal verdict has vindicated the party’s stance on electoral malpractice’.

LAHORE: “After NA-125, re-elections will also take place in NA-122. This is not a matter limited to a few constituencies. Elections can take place nation-wide. This year will be the election year,” Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Lahore president Abdul Aleem Khan said on Tuesday.

He was speaking to journalists at the party’s office in the city. Khan said the long struggle of PTI workers and sympathisers seemed to be finally bearing fruit. He said the recent verdict of the election tribunal had corroborated the party’s claims of electoral malpractice in the 2013 general elections. “Tigers and tigresses should be prepared to brace for the change that will soon engulf the entire nation,” Khan said. PTI Punjab president Ejaz Chaudhry said the NA-125 verdict was self-explanatory. He said the decision was a fitting response to those who had accused the PTI of wanting to derail democracy. Chaudhry said no returning officer would have the audacity to tamper with votes unless they enjoyed the backing of political heavyweights. He said the party would continue to struggle for a free-and-fair electoral process.

PTI Punjab secretary general Yasmin Rashid said the PTI was the only party that had taken a firm stance on the issue. “Our struggle has paid off in the form of the verdict. This is the beginning of the end of a rigged parliament,” she said.

PTI Punjab information secretary Andleeb Abbas said rigging had been established in NA-125. She said MNA Saad Rafique could not fool the nation with his twisted interpretation of the verdict. Abbas said he should start preparing for re-election.

Imran Tiger Force president Syed Rashid Riaz Shah welcomed the verdict. He said the people of NA-125 and PP-155 would finally get the opportunity to vote for their true representatives in the wake of the decision.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2015.