NA-122 recount seemingly proves Imran wrong: Sethi

LAHORE: Senior analyst Najam Sethi on Saturday said the election audit in NA-122 proved the stance of both PTI and PML-N right.
One party was of the view that the elections should be held again as the last polls were not conducted properly, while the other said it was because of the Election Commission officials and some bogus/invalid votes had been found, he added.
Expressing his views in Geo News programme ‘Aapis ki Baat’, Sethi said invalid votes were rejected in the past polls as well and it wasn’t anything new; however, the PML-N argued that most of the rejected votes were of PTI and hence the total votes bagged by Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had increased. The Election Commission would pass verdict as per law, he added.
According to Sethi, the PML-N says the irregularities in elections were on small scale that did not affect final results. The recounting in NA-122 seemingly proves this argument against that of Imran. Had there been a difference of 40-50 per cent, Imran’s position would have been acceptable but elections could not be rejected on the basis of 10 per cent difference and hence his case is not valid.
Small problems like that of ballot papers and counterfoils prove the Election Commission officials committed some mistakes. Now it has to be seen what decision is issued by the tribunal, which could be challenged by either side, and they will move the Supreme Court.
Sethi said the judicial commission issue was just like the NA-122 case and the PML-N would never accept the PTI’s demand. Things would have been different, he said, if the matter was of a single constituency, but the PTI wanted to nullify the whole elections.
He said if it was the case then recounting could be done in every constituency to check whether irregularities were found in the majority of them and whether had it damaged the PTI or not - an exercise which wasn’t possible - or the other option was to prove that there had been a conspiracy. The next polls would

be held after electoral reforms which was a good thing, he added.
He said the suicide attack on an imambargah in Rawalpindi was a plain response by the terrorists to Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s stance on the nature of terrorism.On the MQM’s allegations of extra-judicial killings, he said such deaths, if there were any, were deplorable and it had become clear in one case because the police claimed that the death was caused by cardiac arrest. There should be an impartial probe to ascertain the kind of interrogation, the cause of the heart attack or something other happening, he added.
According to Sethi, the police say they are criminals, but these incidents would occur if they are given a freehand. Such allegations do appear in Karachi-like operations and the police should be careful in their actions.
About the Talibanisation in Karachi, he said the MQM was standing against religious terrorism openly just like the ANP and there was no doubt the party would be targeted, but the claims about the state’s involvement were not justified.
About the cricket team’s selection for the upcoming ICC World Cup, Sethi said the process had been completed without any pressure. The selectors accepted that the future of Fawad Alam was bright, but they could not pick him for the squad as he was similar to Younas and Misbah in batting approach, he said, adding that Sohail Khan was selected on the basis of his performance in the recent ODI tournament during which he took most wickets.