ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has called for nationwide demonstrations on Saturday to protest what it calls “brazen rigging” of Feb. 8 national election in the South Asian country.
Khan’s PTI was severely hamstrung ahead of the February 8 polls, with rallies banned, its party symbol taken away, and dozens of its candidates rejected from eligibility to stand.
The party stunned election observers after independent candidates, most loyal to Khan, grabbed the highest 101 seats in the National Assembly, lower house of Pakistan parliament.
However, the party on Friday urged its supporters to protest what it called widespread rigging of the polls.
“Imran Khan’s PTI has called for country wide protests against the unprecedented, massive, brazen rigging in General Elections 2024, where PTI’s win of 180 National Assembly seats & a two-third majority in Parliament, was cut down to half,” the party said on X.
Pakistan’s election commission has denied the accusations and said legal forums were present to address any specific concerns relating to the polls.
Khan, who has been in jail since August last year after he was convicted in a case involving the illegal sale of state gifts, accuses Pakistan’s powerful military of sidelining him and his party from politics. The military denies Khan’s accusations and says it does not interfere in political matters.
A day earlier, Gohar Khan, the current PTI chairman, said his party would present Forms 45 at a press conference in Islamabad on Friday.
Form 45, given to election candidates or their representatives at polling stations, contains details of the breakdown of votes. Since last week’s election, the PTI has been saying that the results in Forms 45 received by its candidates were changed in Forms 47, which are official declaration of constituency results by a returning officer of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
“We have been repeatedly telling the people and we have shared all those Forms 45 on social media,” Gohar told a private news channel Thursday night.
“Tomorrow, we are organizing a [press conference] at Marriott Hotel [Islamabad] and we will put all Forms 45 in front of media, international media and the people will see how the mandate has been stolen.”
The PTI chairman said they had “exact proofs” of election manipulation.
This is the third time since the election that Khan’s PTI, along with other political parties, have staged protests in various parts of the country over election irregularities, especially over prolonged delays in the release of final results. The party has challenged these results in several constituencies.
Ex-PM Khan party calls for nationwide protests on Saturday against ‘rigging’ of Pakistan polls
https://arab.news/p5ae4
Ex-PM Khan party calls for nationwide protests on Saturday against ‘rigging’ of Pakistan polls
- This is the third time since the Feb. 8 election that Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has called for protest against poll results
- The PTI was severely hamstrung ahead of polls, with rallies banned, party symbol taken away and candidates rejected from standing
Captain Agha reiterates Pakistan’s refusal to play India at the T20 World Cup
- India vs. Pakistan is usually the showpiece match in world tournaments, with the eyeballs on it rising into the hundreds of millions
- The boycott has caused an uproar and the International Cricket Council is trying to resolve the issue with the Pakistan Cricket Board
COLOMBO: Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha has reiterated that his team will abide by his government’s ruling not to play India in the much-anticipated Twenty20 World Cup fixture next week.
India vs. Pakistan is usually the showpiece match in world tournaments — the eyeballs on it rise into the hundreds of millions. The boycott has caused an uproar and the International Cricket Council is trying to resolve the problem with the Pakistan Cricket Board.
At a captains’ media conference on Thursday, Agha repeated the team will follow its government’s advice.
“The India game is not in our control,” Agha said. “The government has decided and we respect that. Whatever they are saying we’ll do.
“We are playing three other (group) games and we are excited about that.”
Pakistan’s World Cup opener is against the Netherlands on Saturday in Colombo. It will play all of its games in co-host Sri Lanka. Namibia and the United States are also in the group. The India game is scheduled for Feb. 15 in Colombo.
In Mumbai, India captain Suryakumar Yadav said they were going to Colombo whether the match was on or not.
“(Our) mindset is pretty clear,” Yadav said. “We did not refuse to play them. The refusal came from them. ICC organized the fixture. BCCI and (Indian) government decided to play in neutral venue in coordination with ICC. Our flight to Colombo is booked. So we are going. We’ll see what happens later.”
The Pakistan government decision came after Bangladesh was kicked out of the World Cup by the ICC. Bangladesh refused to play in India for security reasons and wanted its games moved to Sri Lanka but the ICC dismissed those concerns.
Agha said he was saddened that Bangladesh wasn’t playing in the World Cup for the first time and asked Bangladeshi fans to back his team.
Pakistan has accused the ICC of double standards and not accommodating security concerns. India and Pakistan do not play in each other’s territory and meet in ICC tournaments only at neutral venues.
Their countries are embroiled in military and diplomatic tensions which have spilled into sports for more than a decade. Last year at the men’s Asian Cup and Women’s World Cup, the teams did not shake hands when they met.
