{"id":62326,"date":"2024-02-20T11:34:13","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T11:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/jis-mushtaq-ahmad-demands-cecs-resignation-as-senators-decry-alleged-rigging-in-feb-8-polls\/"},"modified":"2024-02-20T11:34:13","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T11:34:13","slug":"jis-mushtaq-ahmad-demands-cecs-resignation-as-senators-decry-alleged-rigging-in-feb-8-polls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/jis-mushtaq-ahmad-demands-cecs-resignation-as-senators-decry-alleged-rigging-in-feb-8-polls\/","title":{"rendered":"JI\u2019s Mushtaq Ahmad demands CEC\u2019s resignation as senators decry alleged rigging in Feb 8 polls"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p>Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmad on Tuesday demanded that Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja resign from his post and proceedings under Article 6 (high treason) of the Constitution be initiated against him.<\/p>\n<p>He passed these remarks as the upper house of Parliament convened for the second day. During the session, a number of senators raised concerns regarding allegations of poll rigging and last week\u2019s press conference by former Rawalpindi commissioner Liaqat Ali Chattha wherein he had accused the Election Commission of Pakistan and Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa of involvement in the \u201crigging\u201d \u2014 a claim denied by the electoral watchdog and the top judge.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1815126\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Chattha claimed the candidates who were \u201closing\u201d the elections \u201cwere made to win\u201d and that the process to justify the manipulated results was still going in \u201can organised manner at some offices\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from the ex-commissioner, several political parties including the PTI, JI, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazal and Awami National Party <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1815641\/four-party-alliance-to-expand-protests-against-rigging\">claimed<\/a> that they were deprived of their mandate through \u201cmassive rigging\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking during today\u2019s Senate session, Senator Mushtaq said: \u201cChairman <em>sahib<\/em>, the country witnessed the worst-ever rigging on Feb 8. These were fake elections and whatever government is formed on the basis of these polls would be fake.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He demanded that the ECP should apologise for failing to fulfil its constitutional responsibility and the CEC should resign.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProceedings should be initiated against him under Article 6 of the Constitution and the Rs5 billion that was spent on the elections should be recovered those responsible for rigging,\u201d the JI senator said.<\/p>\n<p>He further claimed that four departments \u2014 the ECP, caretaker government, judiciary and establishment \u2014 had \u201cstolen the mandate of the public\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Mushtaq also read out loud Article 6, adding that the ECP was bound to ensure that the elections were free, fair, transparent and lawful. \u201cBut none of this was ensured in the Feb 8 elections and, therefore, the election commission should be tried under high treason,\u201d he asserted.<\/p>\n<p>The senator lamented that the nation was bearing an increase in the costs of electricity, gas and other essentials, claiming that all this money was being given to the ECP.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis will be a strange government where the prime minister was selected first and then elections were held. I believe this is not just rigging but this is the rape [<em>sic<\/em>] of the ballot paper, ballot box and the nation\u2019s fundamental right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Mushtaq went on to say that the Feb 8 polls lost their credibility the moment mobile and internet services were suspended on election day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the past three days, there has been a clamp down on social media platform Twitter [now X]. Why? Because rigging has taken place and you are not facing it because you are scared,\u201d he alleged.<\/p>\n<p>This, the senator continued, was a theft of the people\u2019s digital rights which would not be accepted.<\/p>\n<p>Referring to Chattha\u2019s press conference, he said the ex-commissioner had \u201cexposed\u201d the Feb 8 elections. \u201cYou can see that the situation was something else on Feb 8 and it completely changed on Feb 9,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Mushtaq also lauded JI\u2019s Karachi Emir Naeemur Rehman for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1813575\">forfeiting<\/a> his Sindh Assembly seat. \u201cDeals were made beforehand, and results were announced according to that. This is a big question which should be investigated,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n<p>The senator added that those involved in alleged poll rigging were playing with Pakistan\u2019s future. \u201cElections are supposed to pull the country out of the crisis, but these polls just increased all our economic and political challenges,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to ask, what message are you giving to the public by this? That some civil servants will decide for the nation behind closed doors?\u201d Mushtaq asked in the fiery speech.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"peoples-decision-loud-and-clear\" href=\"#peoples-decision-loud-and-clear\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"\/>\u2018People\u2019s decision loud and clear\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>PTI Senator Barrister Ali Zafar stated that the people of Pakistan, particularly the youth, had announced their decision in favour of incarcerated party chief Imran Khan on Feb 8.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a revolution of the vote and in favour of democracy,\u201d he said. \u201cDespite the incidents of pre- and post-poll rigging, they have given a decision loud and clear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhether someone accepts this or not, this decision is in favour of hope and democracy. This decision is in favour of the PTI and Imran Khan,\u201d Zafar added, lauding the nation.<\/p>\n<p>He said that the PTI was harassed in the hope that \u201csupporters won\u2019t come out to vote\u201d on Feb 8. The senator recalled that the homes of PTI candidates were raided, they were stopped from filing nomination papers and the party was not allowed to hold a single gathering in the run-up to the polls.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1805686\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAnd then just a few days before [the elections], our symbol was snatched to create confusion among voters,\u201d he lamented, terming the events \u201cpre-poll rigging\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Barrister Zafar further said that Imran\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1809998#:~:text=IN%20what%20many%20would%20describe,violating%20the%20Official%20Secrets%20Act.\">convictions<\/a> in the cipher, Toshakhana and Iddat cases days before polls followed the pattern of a \u201cwitch hunt\u201d and warned that this would be harmful for politics in the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDespite all this, the nation came out and voted for the PTI on Feb 8. But when pre-poll rigging failed, post-poll rigging began. Our mandate has been stolen and if it is not returned then it will not stay in anyone\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA government without legitimacy and mandate will only fail,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, PTI Senator Walid Iqbal noted that the word \u2018election\u2019 in Pakistan\u2019s Constitution meant that it was not the mere casting or counting of votes but was rather \u201can entire process\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut whatever happened throughout this process \u2014 which includes snatching of nomination papers, depriving a party of its electoral symbol and raids \u2014 proves that the electoral process was tainted,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n<p>He lamented the suspension of mobile and internet services, saying that the outage was condemned across the world. \u201cThe caretakers and ECP will have to prove that there was no malice in this suspension,\u201d the senator demanded.<\/p>\n<p>Iqbal further highlighted that the CEC had assured the nation that provisional results, on the basis of Form 45s, would be announced by midnight. \u201cBut this did not happen, everything is in front of us,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"unfair-to-say-rigging-took-place-in-select-areas\" href=\"#unfair-to-say-rigging-took-place-in-select-areas\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"\/>\u2018Unfair to say rigging took place in select areas\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Meanwhile, PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui stated that it was true that Pakistan\u2019s electoral history was not perfect, noting that this situation had persisted for several decades.<\/p>\n<p>He highlighted that none of the democratically elected governments were ever allowed to complete their tenure. \u201cIn this manner, I agree with my colleagues that the history of our elections is not exactly the best. But why are we not talking about the 2018 polls?\u201d the senator asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhatever happened in the 2018 general elections is a dark chapter in the history of our country. A lot happened back then and maybe the same happened this year as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd if the same happened again, then it took place across the country and not just in Punjab or Balochistan. It happened in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The irregularities, he continued, took place everywhere. \u201cAnd if you suffered from it, so did we,\u201d Siddiqui stressed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt isn\u2019t fair to say that no rigging took place where you won and vice versa,\u201d he said, recalling that all the allegations levelled by the PTI today were similar to the \u201cinjustices\u201d the PML-N faced in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Referring to the PTI\u2019s recent talks with the JUI-F, Senator Irfan questioned why the Imran-led party does not hold a dialogue with other parties. \u201cCome to the Parliament and register your protest [\u2026] it is time that the politics of confrontation ends,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmad on Tuesday demanded that Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja resign from his post and proceedings under Article 6 (high treason) of the Constitution be initiated against him. He passed these remarks as the upper house of Parliament convened for the second day. During the session, a number of senators raised [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/02\/201359473f880ac.jpg?r=140015","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-islamabad-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}