Screengrab of PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s speech
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Monday reiterated his allegations of the incumbent government trying to rig the elections against his party in the Punjab by-elections, despite his party securing a near-landslide by winning 15 of the 20 seats contested.
In a televised speech, the ousted prime minister claimed the government used its entire machinery to block the PTI in violation of Supreme Court orders. If the next general elections take place in the same environment, he claimed, “then political instability will exacerbate, not decrease.” Maintaining that the incumbent government had “interfered” in the by-polls by registering FIRs and using police to harass PTI workers, he “saluted” police who did not respond to the government’s pressure and reiterated that he “remembered” the name of every police officer who had “behaved like a worker of the PMLN.”
The bulk of Khan’s speech, however, was used to target Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, who the PTI leader accused of negative intentions. Citing a claim already debunked by the ECP, he said the CEC’s “incompetence” had resulted in four million people being shown as deceased on voter lists. “He wholeheartedly participated in the polling process to ensure that PMLN wins,” he alleged, without offering any evidence of his claims, per routine.
“We do not trust this election commissioner,” he said, and reiterated calls for the CEC’s resignation. Claiming that the CEC had not acted on “several cases of rigging,” he alleged that this allowed malpractices to continue, as no one feared accountability.
Similarly, Khan alleged that the PPP’s landslide victory in the first phase of Sindh’s local body elections had been a result of the CEC’s favouritism. “He [Raja] is taking money from two sources—the Sindh government and the election commission. His case is pending in the Supreme Court,” he alleged, again without offering any evidence. “Even the Election Commission tried all tactics to ensure we lose. But we won despite that as people came out to cast their votes like never before,” he said, adding that transparent elections were not possible under the incumbent CEC.
While celebrating the party’s victory in the by-polls, he said this was a moment to “thank Allah,” adding that he also wished to thank the people of Punjab who had come out to vote. “A group of people become a nation when they have a vision,” he said, adding he was “happy” that the public had started questioning rulers and had refused to accept “slavery” under an “imported government” imposed on them through a “foreign conspiracy.”
The cricketer-turned-politician claimed that when PTI was in power an “artificial political crisis was created” through the vote of no-confidence. “If you look at the Economic Survey for the fiscal year 2021-22 you would see that after 17 years, Pakistan witnessed record growth in the last two years of the PTI government,” he said, hailing economic indicators.
“They [PMLN] left huge fiscal deficits during both their terms. They came to power only to get cases against them quashed. They got bills passed from the assembly,” he said referring to the NAB amendment bills, while not discussing the deficits left by his party. Khan confirmed that he would appear in the Supreme Court tomorrow (Tuesday) to challenge the NAB bills.
Acknowledging that the current economic crisis is a result of political uncertainty, he said “at least” the incumbent coalition government now admits an international crisis is provoking its “tough decisions.”
The only solution to this crisis, stressed Khan, was free and fair elections. He warned that if this situation is not addressed soon, the economic situation would worsen and things could spiral out of control.