ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan once again asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to intervene in his case against the government over rigging in the last general elections.

Addressing a press conference, the PTI chief said his party was open for “Supreme Court-led, but time-bound investigations into the results of general elections”.

Accompanied by Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Emir Sirajul Haq, the PTI leader said: “One way of resolving the current crisis is that the SC conducts a free and fair audit of the last general elections as his party continues their sit-in.”

Also read: PTI closer to JI than other parties, says Imran

But he reiterated that the PTI believed that an impartial inquiry could not be carried out, nor the guilty parties punished, as long as the prime minister remained in power.

“I have given the JI emir my suggestions regarding an SC-supervised investigation,” Mr Khan said without elaborating what those suggestions were.

JI, PTI bury the hatchet; Siraj says responsibility for ending impasse lies with govt

He also did not clarify whether he had backed-off from his demand for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s resignation before a judicial commission is set up to investigate the previous elections.

While the PTI leader did not take any questions after his press talk, he repeatedly underlined that he did not accept the current National Assembly or prime minister as having been genuinely elected.

Elaborating on his party leader’s words, PTI MNA Dr Arif Alvi said that by asking for a SC-monitored examination of the previous elections, the PTI was offering a way out of the lingering impasse.

“But this does not mean that we have backed down from our original demand for the PM’s resignation because we feel that the government will not allow a neutral investigation in his presence,” he said.

The apex court only recently struck down a petition filed by PTI leader Ishaq Khakwani, asking for the 2013 general elections to be declared null and void because nearly all parliamentary parties had admitted that there were irregularities in the process.

On August 13 this year, the PM had written to the SC asking to set up a three-member judicial commission to “probe allegations which the PTI levelled against former Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Najam Sethi and a number of Election Commission officials.”

Following the PTI’s march on the capital, the two sides sat across from each other at the negotiations table to determine the terms of reference for the proposed judicial commission, but couldn’t evolve a consensus.

The apex court has not, to date, taken any action on the request of the prime minister. for constituting the judicial commission.

SC Registrar Tahir Shahbaz was not available for comment despite repeated attempts. Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid could not be reached either for the government’s response to the PTI’s offer.

Mr Khan met his coalition partner, the JI chief, at the residence of a Jamaat leader, ostensibly to clarify their respective party positions.

The two parties share government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and had a public falling out last week.

However, on Wednesday, both leaders said they had cleared up whatever misunderstanding existed between them.

Addressing the press conference, the JI emir also towed the PTI chairman’s line, saying, “The 2013 elections have become controversial due to widespread allegations of rigging, which need to be probed at the highest level to restore the sanctity of the ballot.”

The JI chief said the PTI leadership was open to talks, but, “the government is dilly-dallying on the issue of talks and nobody knows what the government has in mind. I reiterate that the responsibility of ending this crisis lies squarely on the government of the day.”

Mr Haq said if parties’ reservations regarding the results of the elections were not removed and electoral reforms not introduced, the results of the next elections would also be called into question.

“I personally have demanded from day one that all those involved in rigging be punished,” he said.

The JI leader also used the opportunity to criticise the federal government for its ‘silence’ over the harsh sentences announced against JI leaders in Bangladesh.

Published in Dawn, November 6th , 2014