Taking a stand: ANP demands dissolution of K-P Assembly

Coalition partner AJIP highlights gross irregularities at women’s polling stations in Swabi.

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan has demanded the dissolution of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and resignation of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak for failing to conduct free and fair local government elections.

Talking to the media at Bilour House on Wednesday after a meeting of the ANP leadership, Asfandyar said fresh polls should be held and a caretaker government established after the dissolution of the provincial legislature.

“A caretaker government should conduct both general and local government re-elections in the province,” he said. “Maintaining law and order is the responsibility of the provincial government. However, with Khattak administration in power, free and fair elections are impossible.”

Malpractice

Asfandyar also criticised Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan for pinning the responsibility of irregularities and malpractices during LG polls on the Election Commission of Pakistan.

“Imran keeps double standards over the same issue,” he said. “In Punjab, he put the responsibility of rigging on the then caretaker CM Najam Sethi, but in K-P, it became the ECP’s fault.”



Asfandyar slammed the K-P Local Government Act 2013 and demanded  a fresh legislation. He also demanded the federal government empower the ECP to such an extent that it could not be influenced by a political force nor need any help in preparing for polls.

In the crosshairs

Speaking about the party’s general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain’s arrest, the ANP chief said his party leaders were not afraid of jails and had been to prison before. Asfandyar called the entire episode nothing more than a “drama”. He warned ANP would probe and question the victimisation of any worker of the party.

“The FIR against Mian Iftikhar was registered two hours after his arrest.”

Elaborating, Asfandyar said the government must stop such practices as it could also be subjected to the same. “The government says it arrested Mian Iftikhar to save his life, but the fact that he was in handcuffs clearly showed their intent.”

The ANP supremo accused the government for pressurising the father of Habibullah, the PTI worker killed on Election Day, to change his statement and pin responsibility of the murder on Mian Iftikhar.

Two for one

As allegations of rigging pour in from across the province, the Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan, PTI’s coalition partner, has said more than one vote was cast against each woman’s CNIC in Swabi.

“Our opponents cast fake votes and police personnel were also involved in rigging,” AJIP Chairman Shahram Khan Tarakai’s spokesperson Ramzan Ahmad, told The Express Tribune. Ahmad said after Tuesday’s press conference, the senior minister also decided to submit a written complaint. Tarakai has since submitted the requisition in the provincial office of the election commission.

The spokesperson claimed rival candidates forced women to cast ballots against AJIP at several polling stations.

Quoting returning officers, the AJIP representative said polling staff had been replaced at the last minute on May 29 as the appointed officials refused to perform their duties on Election Day. Ahmad demanded biometric verification of votes and an investigation into all complaints of possible rigging.

AJIP submitted its requisition over six union councils (UC) and separate complaints have also been submitted to the provincial election commission deputy director Khushal Zada.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2015.