Pre-poll rigging: ECP has failed to address our grievances, says Fehmida Mirza

Claims she will not boycott elections despite grievances and pre-poll rigging

BADIN: MNA Dr Fehmida Mirza, who hails from Badin, claimed on Wednesday that her grievances have not been addressed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) despite her meeting with the ECP provincial and federal heads.

“The ECP has miserably failed to address our grievances,” she said, at a press conference in her hometown a day before the elections. She announced that despite grievances and pre-poll rigging, she will not boycott the elections. “I’ll expose them [the Sindh government] until the last minute,” she said.

Fehmida, the former speaker of the National Assembly and wife of former Sindh home minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, accused the Sindh government of pre-poll rigging. All political parties, including Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz and Paksitan Muslim League - Functional, have expressed grievances on the election process and pre-poll rigging, she said.

Dr Fehmida said that the provincial home department and the district administration were supporting the candidates of the Pakistan People Party (PPP). “[Sindh] home minister is a paid servant,” she alleged.

According to her, 30 police mobile vans have been used by the ruling party’s candidates. The Sindh government has tried to disturb the peaceful environment of Badin district, she said. “We’ll expose them to the whole of Pakistan and the entire world that how democratic forces exploit the situation and how they come into power,” she said. “This is not the same Pakistan Peoples Party that has the true representation of people. It is just a party without people now.” When questioned about her being an MNA and her son, Barrister Hasnain Mirza, a lawmaker of Sindh Assembly on PPP tickets, she replied, “We have been elected by the people.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2015.