KARACHI: Flag traders in Pakistan are facing the risk of huge losses after Pakistan’s election regulator stripped former prime minister Imran Khan’s party of its election symbol, a cricket bat, the traders said on Friday. 

The Election Commission of Pakistan on Dec. 22 ruled that intraparty polls of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, held in December, violated its regulations and the country’s election laws. Consequently, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declared the polls null and void, stripping the PTI of its electoral symbol. 

The PTI approached the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the ECP’s decision, following which the high court on Dec. 26 suspended the ECP’s decision and ruled the party could retain the bat symbol. However, the ECP filed a review petition last week in the PHC and the court withdrew its stay on Wednesday, upholding the ECP’s decision to strip the party of the symbol. 

As a last resort, the PTI filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Thursday to contest the high court’s decision that ultimately caused it to lose the symbol. While the party is hopeful of getting relief from the country’s apex court, flag traders have also set their eyes on the Supreme Court, which is expected to take up the case next week. 

“We always maintain stock of party flags and we have flags of almost all political parties ready,” Shaikh Nisar Ahmed Parchamwala, chief executive officer of VIP Flags, one of the major flag-makers in Pakistan, told Arab News on Friday. 

Parchamwala said he had a stock of around 50,000 PTI flags that bore cricket bat as the election symbol and he would suffer financial losses if the party did not get relief from the apex court. 

“We have prepared flags of three major political parties, Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) and the PTI,” he told Arab News. “God forbid, if they are not allotted the bat, we will suffer huge losses.” 

Election symbols are crucial in Pakistan where the adult literacy rate is just 58 percent, according to World Bank data. 

The bat symbol is reflective of ex-PM Khan’s past as a successful cricketer, who led Pakistan to their only 50-over World Cup win in 1992, propelling him to an unrivaled position among the country’s cricket greats. 

A flag costs somewhere between Rs10 to Rs500 ($1.78) while those made on special requests cost much higher, according to traders. 

Another flag seller said some of the traders had a stock of more than 100,000 PTI flags having cricket bat as the electoral symbol. 

“We have maintained stock of PTI flag of various sizes and if the symbol is not given, then we will have to suffer losses,” Jawad Jiwani, a flag seller, told Arab News.