Local governments: PTI warns against electoral rigging

Sarwar accuses police of taking dictation from govt

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) provincial organiser Chaudhry Sarwar on Friday warned the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) against electoral rigging.

Sarwar was addressing a meeting of party candidates for Lahore union councils. Punjab deputy organiser Umer Sarfraz Cheema also attended the meeting that discussed the party’s preparations for local government polls being held on Saturday (today). Sarwar said it was the responsibility of the Election Commission to ensure transparency.

“The commission must ensure that elections are fair. Otherwise, the PTI will keep open its option of street protest,” he said. He accused Punjab Police of following dictation from the PML-N. Police have failed to maintain order in the city, he said.

Commenting on cases registered against some of the party’s candidates and their lawyers under charges related to terrorism, Sarwar said this was meant to harass and coerce them. “The PTI will not be a silent spectator. We will resort to protest if we are cornered through such acts.”

The PTI leader said the party would continue to challenge the status quo.

Sarwar said the PTI had demanded that the ECP deploy the army at polling stations to rule out the possibility of elections being rigged. “We will not let the ruling party steal the people’s mandate,” he said. The PML-N should stop using state machinery to influence voters, Sarwar said.

Cheema said the PML-N had become a “goonda league”. He said that instead of protecting people, police were targeting them. “The PML-N is aware that people will not vote for it,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2015.