ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former ruling party conceded defeat to cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan ahead of final results from the country’s disputed election, which European Union monitors said on Friday had not been fought on a level playing field.
But several smaller parties with tens of thousands of supporters threatened nationwide street protests unless the entire election was re-run, though it was not made clear when they might begin.
Khan, during a speech declaring victory on Thursday, offered to investigate opposition allegations of vote-rigging and said he wanted to “unite” the country under his leadership.
The party of jailed ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif initially rejected the so far incomplete results, but by Friday its leaders appeared to accept that Khan would be the next prime minister.
“We are going to sit on opposition benches, despite all the reservations,” said Hamza Shehbaz Sharif, a parliamentarian and the nephew of Nawaz Sharif, who is in prison after being convicted on corruption charges he disputes.
The allegations of rigging in Wednesday’s election followed a bitter campaign in which Pakistan’s powerful military was accused of tilting the race in favor of Khan, and trying to erase democratic gains made since the most recent spell of military rule ended in 2008. The army has repeatedly denied any interference.
The EU Election Observation Mission, in its preliminary findings, said the electoral process was “not as good” as the 2013 election and campaign week featured a “lack of equality” that meant it was not a level playing field for all parties.
“Many of our interlocutors acknowledged a systematic effort to undermine the former ruling party through cases of corruption, contempt of court and terrorist charges against its leaders and candidates,” chief EU observer Michael Gahler told a news conference.
The mission included 120 observers who visited 582 polling stations in all the provinces except Baluchistan.
CURRENCY CRDaesh
Gahler said EU observers had not witnessed any military interference in polling stations they assessed.
“On election day, polling was assessed as well conducted and transparent,” he said. “However, counting was somewhat problematic with staff not always following the procedures.”
He added later: “The credibility or the legitimacy of this process, that is for the people of Pakistan.”
The US State Department said it concurred with the observation mission’s conclusions that positive changes to the election framework were “overshadowed by restrictions on freedom of expression and unequal campaign opportunities” and shared its concerns about “flaws in the pre-voting electoral process.”
Although Khan appeared likely to fall short of the 137 seats needed for a majority in the National Assembly, his better-than-expected results mean he should be able to form a government with small coalition partners.
One of the first tasks for Khan, once he forms the government, will be to avert a currency crisis, following four devaluations of the rupee currency since December, which will likely require Islamabad to seek Pakistan’s second International Monetary Fund bailout since 2013.
The latest Election Commission of Pakistan official partial results showed Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), or Pakistan Movement for Justice party, had won 115 seats out of the 268 seats counted. The National Assembly has 272 seats in total but two have been postponed and results of two are awaited.
FULL RESULTS
The commission was expected to announce full results sometime on Saturday, nearly three days later than scheduled.
Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)had 63 seats, the results showed. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of assassinated two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was third with 43 seats.
“(PML-N) would play the role of a strong opposition,” said Shehbaz Sharif, the PML-N president and brother of Nawaz Sharif, according to the English-language Dawn newspaper.
Later on Friday, however, Shehbaz Sharif joined several smaller parties who also alleged rigging met in capital Islamabad in a statement that rejected the results, though the PPP was not present.
Shehbaz Sharif has vowed to offer evidence to the election commission.
Both the PML-N and PPP say their party monitors at many voting centers were either kicked out during counting or had not received the official notifications of the precincts’ results, instead being given handwritten tallies they could not verify.
The smaller parties — including the Islamist coalition Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal with tens of thousands of supporters, said they would launch protests and boycott parliament, but Shehbaz Sharif said he would consult his party before taking such action.
“We do not consider this election to be the mandate of the public, but a theft of the people’s mandate,” said Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman from the Jamiat Ulma-e-islam (JUI) party, part of the MMA coalition.
“We will organize protest rallies, he said.
Nearly finalized results also indicated religious parties that fielded more candidates than ever before failed to win any National Assembly seats.
The Allahu Akbar Tehreek party of Hafiz Saeed, who is accused of masterminding the 2008 attacks that killed 166 people in the Indian city of Mumbai, did not win a single seat. Neither did candidates linked to Sunni extremist group Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat.
Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, which campaigns under the rallying cry “Death to Blasphemers” also failed to win any seats, although results indicate it garnered a large following across Punjab.
Main parties concede Pakistan election to Imran Khan; protests threatened by others
Main parties concede Pakistan election to Imran Khan; protests threatened by others
- Several smaller parties threaten street protests
- Khan offers investigation of allegations of vote-rigging
Separated twice: An Afghan man’s life in Pakistan and the fear of losing home again
- Lost as a child in Peshawar, Mohammad Rahim Khan built a life in Pakistan but remains undocumented
- Deportation drive of ‘illegal’ foreigners exposes legal gaps around adoption, marriage, refugee status
ISLAMABAD: Mohammad Rahim Khan was five years old when he last saw his mother.
It was at the Hajji Camp bus stop in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar, more than four decades ago. His mother, an Afghan refugee fleeing war, had brought him across the Tari Mangal border in Kurram district and into Pakistan. While waiting at the crowded terminal, Khan wandered to a nearby toy shop. When he returned, she was gone.
He searched for her for two days. She never came back.
A local shopkeeper, Ali Muhammad, took pity on the child and brought him home, promising to help find his family. The temporary shelter became permanent. Khan grew up in Pakistan, adopted informally into the household, and never returned to Afghanistan.
Now 45, he lives on the outskirts of Islamabad in a modest two-room house, working as a daily wage laborer. But a nationwide deportation drive launched by Pakistan in 2023 has placed his entire life under threat.
Since November 2023, authorities have deported nearly 2 million Afghan nationals, targeting those without legal documentation. Khan, who has remained undocumented throughout his adult life, fears he may soon be among them.
“I spoke to my lawyer that I am very worried,” Khan told Arab News. “I love Pakistan.”
A FAMILY WITHOUT PAPERS
Ali Muhammad later married Khan to his daughter, Gul Mina. Together, they have six children, four daughters and two sons. Yet despite decades in Pakistan, Khan’s Afghan nationality continues to shadow the family.
Khan never held an Afghan refugee card, Afghan Citizen Card (ACC), Proof of Registration (POR), or any other formal documentation. His family assumed for decades that his informal adoption, marriage to a Pakistani citizen, and long residence would provide sufficient legal standing. They only sought legal advice when the deportation drive began threatening separation.
Without a Pakistani national identity card, his children cannot obtain Form-B, the birth registration document required for school enrolment.
“They [children] are told to get a Form-B,” Gul Mina told Arab News. “Otherwise, they will not go to school.”
Three of their daughters were forced to leave school after eighth grade.
Healthcare has also been affected. When Khan’s 13-year-old son, Ehsanullah, fractured his arm, a public hospital refused to issue a registration card without identity documents.
“Then I went to a [private clinic] in Chak Shahzad and got my treatment there,” Khan said.
The family has petitioned the Islamabad High Court to block his deportation. Lawyers say the case highlights how thousands of long-term residents fall through legal cracks created by Pakistan’s citizenship, refugee and documentation framework.
LEGAL GREY ZONE
Pakistan does not legally recognize Western-style adoption. Instead, it uses a guardianship system under the 1890 Guardians and Wards Act, aligning with Islamic principles that preserve lineage, so adopted children don’t inherit or change their family name but receive care, education and welfare through court-appointed guardianship.
“Because we don’t have a legal pathway for adoption per se, the adopted child does not get citizenship of the adopting parents automatically,” said Advocate Umer Ijaz Gillani, a legal expert on citizenship.
Years earlier, Khan’s father-in-law had offered to register him as his biological son to obtain identity documents, but Khan refused, calling the move fraudulent. Because Khan later married his father-in-law’s daughter, both he and his wife cannot legally list the same person as their father on official records, leaving them without a lawful workaround.
Marriage offers no certainty either. Pakistan’s Citizenship Act of 1951 grants citizenship to foreign women married to Pakistani men, but is silent on foreign husbands married to Pakistani women.
While higher courts have, at times, ruled in favor of such men, implementation has been inconsistent. In October 2025, the Supreme Court struck down a high court order that had directed authorities to grant citizenship to an Afghan man married to a Pakistani woman.
Even the Pakistan Origin Card (POC), a long-term residency document, remains difficult to secure.
“We have experienced that in the case of especially Afghan men who marry Pakistani women, the government authorities are often reluctant to recognize this right,” Gillani said.
According to submissions made by government officials in court, authorities have received at least 117 applications for nationality from Afghan men married to Pakistani women following directives issued by the Peshawar High Court, reflecting a broader pattern rather than isolated cases.
‘NO RELAXATION’
Officials say the deportation policy allows no exceptions.
“No relaxation has been granted by the government, including for those who’ve married to Pakistani citizens,” said Asmatullah Shah, the chief commissionerate for Afghan refugees.
“If they want to live here, they should go back and apply for a visa and then they can come here with valid documentation.”
Legal experts note that deportation would send Khan to Afghanistan despite having no known relatives there, and that returning legally would require obtaining an Afghan passport and a Pakistani visa, costs far beyond the means of a daily wage laborer.
For Khan’s mother-in-law, Husn Pari, who raised him for decades as her own son, the prospect is devastating.
“When I am not able to meet [Khan] for one day, my day does not pass,” she said. “His own mother, how much pain must she be in?”
For Khan, the fear of deportation echoes the trauma of his childhood.
“Before I was separated from my first mother,” he said. “The second time I will be separated from my second mother. This is very difficult for me.”
