Govt won’t prevent PDM protest outside ECP: Rashid

Ag Agencies

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government on Thursday said it would not prevent the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) from their protest outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) planned on January 19, but “hoped” the anti-government alliance would not take the law into its own hands.

Interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, who was flanked by information minister Shibli Faraz, law minister Farogh Naseem, science and technology minister Fawad Chaudhry and defence minister Pervez Khattak, said at a press conference here that the government would not stop the PDM from their protest in front of the election commission’s office.

“The ministerial committee has decided unanimously that the government will not create any hindrance in the opposition’s protests, but we hope the opposition will act according to law and constitution of the country,” Rashid said. “I hope the opposition parties will show good gesture after this decision and not to create law and order situation in the federal capital” he added.

The PDM says its demonstration outside the ECP’s office on January 19 is to protest the commission’s delay in investigating the foreign funding case, which was filed against the PTI in November 2014 by Akbar S Babar, a former member of the ruling party.

Sheikh Rashid said the anti-government drive of the PDM would have “no effect” on the PTI government as the “public’s support is with Prime Minister Imran Khan”, according to Radio Pakistan. The minister expressed hope that the PDM “will not disrupt the peace by taking law in their hands”.

Speaking on the occasion, law minister Farogh Naseem said while protesting is a fundamental right, it should be as per the provisions of the law. He said the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Faizabad sit-in case, set a precedent that protests could not be held everywhere. His comments echoed Rashid’s, who said protests should be held at designated spots.

When information minister Shibli Faraz spoke, he called on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to submit evidence regarding alleged election fraud to the ECP, in addition to holding protest rallies. “The opposition parties to provide proof and evidence of rigging instead of blaming national institutions,” he said.

He also asked the PML-N and PPP leaders to bring the details and documents of the party accounts as the scrutiny committee of the ECP had asked them to provide the details several times in the foreign funding case. He said they should follow legal proceedings of the election commission. Pervez Khattak and Fawad Chaudhry said protests of PDM are aimed at creating chaos in the country.

The PTI, in its latest written response to the ECP’s scrutiny committee in the foreign funding case a day earlier, said if any funds were collected illegally, the responsibility lied with the agent(s). The development was pounced upon by the PML-N, which said the PTI has “admitted” that funds arrived in 23 accounts. “The case was filed in 2014. It is 2021 now. What is holding the ECP back, now that the PTI has admitted that its agents may have indulged in unlawful funding and they have had received the funds,” PML-N spokeswoman Marriyum Aurangzeb said at a press conference.

“They are not denying the fact that the funding arrived in the accounts. So they (ECP) should prepare to write their ruling, because the people of Pakistan are coming to you for the written ruling,” she added.