PTI demands judicial probe into polls ‘rigging’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Thursday released a white paper, encapsulating the events even before February 8 to allege that its mandate given in the general elections was stolen and sought formation of a judicial commission to probe the matter.

The 300-page document was issued here at a news conference by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, who was flanked by the party’s Secretary General Omar Ayub, senior leader Senator Shibli Faraz, former DG NAB Brigadier Mosaddek Abbasi and Information Secretary Raoof Hasan.

The PTI demanded through the document that the Supreme Court should exercise the vital power vested in it by the Constitution under Article 184 (3) to guard the Constitution by exposing the systematic and countrywide electoral fraud.

“Independent judicial commission be formed to investigate the whole process of election’s fraud and those involved in heinous crime of social injustice, corruption and corrupt practices of cheating the public mandate especially Election Commission of Pakistan, if found guilty, be charged under the dictates of law,” it stressed.

It also contended that the judicial commission should have access to the reports prepared by various independent observers including the EU Mission, Pattan, Pildat, Fafen, Commonwealth Observers Group, US Institute of Peace etc, and should have power to summon any person for recording his/ her statement.

According to the white paper and PTI chairman, the entire nation saw how the victory of people as per Form 45 was turned into defeat and the party’s victory was converted into a defeat by altering the results under Form 47.

The document mentioned that how former prime minister Imran Khan was allegedly abducted on May 9, 2023 from within the premises of Islamabad High Court and that the ‘abduction’ sent waves of shock and anger of manhandling of Pakistan most popular leader. It charged the ‘abduction’ was done by the persons in the Rangers uniform. It said under a false flag operation, “crowds gathered at distant points from the prohibited areas like cantonments etc were instigated to move towards various army centres to voice their protests. It included corps commander residence Lahore, GHQ Rawalpindi and few other places in Peshawar and Faisalabad. It was public at large and not PTI response only which was accurately anticipated and precisely utilised to exploit the situation against the PTI”.

“Documentary by BBC and other notable media have proven this was a pre-planned operation, created so as to instigate and then guide and lead the public to move to a particular point. The false flag operation was used to abduct thousands of men and women of PTI, leaders, workers and supporters and to this day final references have not been filed in the courts,” the paper said.

It said the PTI chairman and its leadership condemned the incident and asked for judicial inquiry to meet the requirement of justice and fair play but not acceding to the request of judicial inquiry, has caused deep shadow over the conduct of inquiries, investigations and subsequent trials of May 9 against the PTI leaders and workers.

The white paper noted that petitions of various grievances submitted before the courts were either not entertained or were put to pending: Petitions like role of caretaker beyond 90 days, their illegal status, and dispensations (against Constitution) were intentionally not pursued by the Supreme Court.

“Likewise, the constituencies where the PTI had secured a large number of votes were changed/ altered. The rule was amended where administration boundaries could be ignored in forming the constituencies,” the document said.

The white paper detailed various issues/ incidents under titles like exclusion of top leadership of the PTI from general elections under various pretexts, underhand methods to deter candidates from filing nomination papers, rejection of 90 percent of nomination papers and 90 percent reversal of returning officers’ decision by the courts, media censorship and harassment of journalists, electoral rolls and polling schemes rigging, snatching of nomination papers, targeting PTI women politicians, illegal arrests and forced statements, appointment of bureaucrats as ROs, taking away of symbol of ‘bat’ and blockade of access to internet during virtual gatherings.

Speaking on the occasion, Gohar said that under a plan, their iconic symbol was snatched from them, the intra-party elections were declared null and void, and candidates’ nomination papers were snatched, while they were allotted different symbols.

He continued that the case of “our reserved seats is pending in the Supreme Court, we have filed several petitions but no progress has been made so far”.

He narrated how Imran Khan had been made to appear in the courts hundreds of times even before his arrest, the way jail trials were being held against him 14/ 14 hours, 30 pages of judgments are given within half an hour.

Gohar explained that the PTI has filed 158 petitions from all over Pakistan, “the purpose of releasing the white paper on rigging in the general elections is to demand that our petition be heard as soon as possible through this white paper”.

“We want electoral reforms to take place so that no one can indulge in rigging in future,” he said.

Omar Ayub said that they have the documents of their snatched seats: On February 8, the PTI had won 180 seats, billions of rupees were given to the ECP to conduct free and fair elections, in which it failed, therefore, the commission and its members should resign because they have betrayed the trust of the people of Pakistan.

He alleged that regarding the police personnel involved in violence in the by-elections of Punjab, the police said that they are intelligence people in police uniform. He demanded that the agencies whose people were involved in election meddling should be proceeded against.

Shibli Faraz said that transparent elections don’t suit the PMLN, PPP, MQMP, aand the Constitution was flouted. He pointed out that after the resignation of PTI government, two laws were changed -- one was the EVM machine and the other was the right to vote for overseas Pakistanis.

He said that for the first time, when the PTI dissolved assemblies of the two provinces according to the law, the Constitution was abused by not holding elections in 90 days.

Expressing regret that the people’s mandate was stolen, he paid tribute to the spirit of the people and said that salute to the democratic minded people of Pakistan who defeated despite all the difficulties and vague election symbols.

Faraz demanded that instead of the artificial government formed as a result of the ‘worst rigging’, real representatives should be made to sit in Parliament, adding that the people gave more than 30 million votes in the name of the founder of PTI.

On the occasion, former DG NAB Brigadier Mosaddek Abbasi presented all the evidence before the media and said that the document is proof that the mother of all the wrongs is the Election Commission, which was assisted by the Supreme Court.

He said that according to the Human Rights Report, 90 percent of our nomination papers were rejected, which was reversed by 90 percent of the courts, the important thing was that the officers who tortured the PTI workers were appointed as ROs, “at night we were winning 154 seats when the results were stopped”.