ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s joint political opposition, comprising all major political parties that lost to Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) during last month’s general elections, staged a strong but peaceful protest outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and cried foul over the final poll results on Wednesday.
“This protest is against the historic rigged election of the country. This is the stolen mandate of Pakistan which has been given to Mr.[Imran] Khan. There are questions that have been raised against the transparency of the election as well as the demands of all political parties, part of the alliance for free and fair elections,” said Maryam Aurangzeb, spokesperson of the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), listing the opposition’s concerns to Arab News.
Led by senator Raja Zafarful Haq, chairman of PML-N — the party that secured second highest number of seats at national level including Pakistan’s most populous province, Punjab — the protest included top politicians, supporters, and workers from the Pakistan People’s Party, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, and Awami National Party (ANP).
Some of the political notables present were former foreign minister Khawaja Asif, former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal, senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, ex-Premier Yousaf Raza Gillani, ex-information minister Sherry Rehman, Aitizaz Ahsan, Chaudhry Tanzir, Fazlur Rehman, Mian Aslam, Naveed Qamar, Abid Sher Ali, Farhatullah Babar, Qamar Zaman Qaira, Javed Hashmi, Chaudhry Tanvir, Mehmood Khan Achakzai and, last but not least, Mian Iftikhar.
Shehbaz Sharif, former chief minister of Punjab and brother of imprisoned ex-premier Nawaz Sharif, however, was unable to participate in the demonstration said PML-N members.
The politicians raised slogans against Imran Khan, his party, the military establishment accused of allegedly aiding the cricket-legend-turned-politician’s victory, and the ECP demanding the resignations of its senior officials.
“This protest was organized by political parties but the public has joined our cause cognizant of the mass election rigging and theft of their mandate,” said PML-N leader Mian Latif Javed.
“The formation of a selective government will not resolve the challenges faced by Pakistan. Only a democratic government elected by the people can succeed,” Javed told Arab News.
Demonstrators holding party flags, estimated in the hundreds, disbursed after a few hours of speeches and chanting, and rejecting the election results amid lax security.
ANP leader Sardar Hussain Babak categorically accused the country’s military of meddling in the elections. He told Arab News: “The election commission has acted criminally against the constitution, resulting in a selection instead of an election.”
He demanded a free and fair re-election and stressed that “intelligence agencies and the army should stop interfering in political and civilian affairs. Leave democracy to the will of the people. Till our demands are met we will continue our campaign.”
Opposition parties protest ‘rigged election’ outside ECP
Opposition parties protest ‘rigged election’ outside ECP
- Mandate stolen and given to Imran Khan, allege former ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders
- Opposition parties accuse military of meddling in polls
French publisher recalls dictionary over ‘Jewish settler’ reference
- The entry in French reads: “In October 2023, following the death of more than 1,200 Jewish settlers in a series of Hamas attacks”
- The four books are subject to a recall procedure and will be destroyed, Hachette said
PARSI: French publisher Hachette on Friday said it had recalled a dictionary that described the Israeli victims of the October 7, 2023 attacks as “Jewish settlers” and promised to review all its textbooks and educational materials.
The Larousse dictionary for 11- to 15-year-old students contained the same phrase as that discovered by an anti-racism body in three revision books, the company told AFP.
The entry in French reads: “In October 2023, following the death of more than 1,200 Jewish settlers in a series of Hamas attacks, Israel decided to tighten its economic blockade and invade a large part of the Gaza Strip, triggering a major humanitarian crisis in the region.”
The worst attack in Israeli history saw militants from the Palestinian Islamist group kill around 1,200 people in settlements close to the Gaza Strip and at a music festival.
“Jewish settlers” is a term used to describe Israelis living on illegally occupied Palestinian land.
The four books, which were immediately withdrawn from sale, are subject to a recall procedure and will be destroyed, Hachette said, promising a “thorough review of its textbooks, educational materials and dictionaries.”
France’s leading publishing group, which came under the control of the ultra-conservative Vincent Bollore at the end of 2023, has begun an internal inquiry “to determine how such an error was made.”
It promised to put in place “a new, strengthened verification process for all its future publications” in these series.
President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said that it was “intolerable” that the revision books for the French school leavers’ exam, the baccalaureat, “falsify the facts” about the “terrorist and antisemitic attacks by Hamas.”
“Revisionism has no place in the Republic,” he wrote on X.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, with 251 people taken hostage, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Authorities in Gaza estimate that more than 70,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces during their bombardment of the territory since, while nearly 80 percent of buildings have been destroyed or damaged, according to UN data.
Israeli forces have killed at least 447 Palestinians in Gaza since a ceasefire took effect in October, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
