Umar said his party’s campaign against rigging in 2013 general elections had turned into a movement with people all over the country demanding accountability. PHOTO: EXPRESS
Following the recent verdicts of election tribunals, change is apparent in national politics, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Asad Umar said on Tuesday.
He was speaking at a Naya Pakistan convention organised by the PTI’s Lahore chapter.
Referring to an election tribunal’s verdict on Hamid Khan’s petition against Khwaja Saad Rafique in NA-125, he said a wicket is already down. “More will soon follow. The National Assembly seat of the speaker [Ayaz Sadiq] also stands on shaky grounds,” he said. He claimed that the National Assembly would be dissolved soon and fresh elections ordered.
Umar said his party’s campaign against rigging in 2013 general elections had turned into a movement with people all over the country demanding accountability. “Two years ago, we started the campaign with a small dharna at Lalak Jan Chowk. Now, millions of people all over the country are demanding free and fair elections,” he said.
“People had turned out to bring about a change. But their mandate was stolen by mass-scale rigging,” he said.
He said the Judicial Commission hearing complaints of rigging in the 2013 elections would give its decision in accordance with the law.
‘ISF members will contest local elections on PTI tickets’
The Insaf Students Federation will gather 500,000 students from across the country at a convention at the Minar-i-Pakistan grounds this October, ISF central president Farrukh Habib said on Tuesday.
He was speaking at a ceremony arranged to welcome 10,000 new members to the group. The ceremony started with a delay of around two hours to allow for Umar, the chief guest, to reach the venue.
The event marked the end of a membership drive started by the ISF in March this year. In Lahore, the drive covered 62 educational institutions.
Habib traced the emergence of the ISF to Imran Khan’s visit to the Punjab University in 2007 to mobilise support against General Musharraf’s dictatorship. He said some students’ misbehaviour with Khan had led to mobilisation of a large number of students in his support and establishment of the ISF.
ISF Punjab president Waqas Iftikhar said the ISF had provided a platform to the youth to enter national politics. “Leaders like Farrukh Habib and Murad Saeed have emerged through the ISF ranks,” he said.
Referring to PTI’s performance in Cantonment Board elections, ISF Lahore president Muneeb Aleem Awan said there was a need to re-think the party’s strategy for electoral campaigns.
PTI Lahore president Abdul Aleem Khan said the party would field ISF members as its candidates in the upcoming local elections as well as future elections to the provincial and national assemblies. He praised the ISF’s role in mobilising support for the party’s campaign against rigging in 2013 elections.
He also stressed the importance of women workers’ participation in these campaigns.
Addressing the ceremony, Umar said the youth had enrolled in the ISF to help the PTI in its mission to bring about a new Pakistan. “Imran Khan cannot accomplish this mission by himself. You will have to help him fulfill this dream,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2015.
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