As several opposition political parties continue to raise concerns over alleged election rigging and result manipulation, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Asad Qaiser Tuesday announced that his party is planning to take to the streets to launch a movement against the “stealing” of their mandate by their rivals in the February 8 polls.
Speaking to the media persons in Islamabad, Qaiser said that the PTI would unite all political forces and launch a movement within the ambit of the law and Constitution.
Stressing that the party would ally, the former National Assembly speaker said that their movement, intended to be launched in all provinces, would aim at reclaiming their rights and making sure that their demands are duly met.
However, the politician underscored that the party would protest peacefully as they don’t believe in the Shehbaz Sharif-led “fake government”.
Pakistan staged the biggest election of its history earlier this month, which was extraordinary in various aspects. However, the outcome of the polls did not turn out to be as expected by the political actors as none of them got a simple majority.
Subsequently, many parties, the PTI, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F, and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), rejected the general elections, alleging that they were rigged.
Over 90 independent candidates supported by the PTI won the elections and later joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) to claim the seats reserved for female candidates and minorities.
The party carried out protests across the country on Saturday last week during which the police detained several party workers. The Imran Khan-founded party also protests in the National Assembly during the prime minister’s election.
Qaiser, while speaking about his party’s mandate, said that it was stolen, claiming the results on Form 45 and Form 47 contradicted each other.
“We will not back down as our war is not for our politics but for the nation,” said the politician.
He said that their 180 seats elected seats and reserved seats for women were taken from them.
“Our first demand is that all the institutions should stay within their limits according to the constitution,” said Qaiser, adding that they struggle to free the judiciary.
“Judiciary should make independent decisions instead of coming under pressure,” he said, fearing that there might be a rebellion in the country.
Speaking about the May 9 events, Qaiser said they have always condemned the events and a judicial commission should be formed on it.
He questioned how a “fake” prime minister could steer the country out of the crises, demanding that the country should be run as per the law and constitution.