THIS is apropos Ali Ashraf Khan’s letter (Nov 22). The democracy Mr Ali Khan has tried to defend is sham democracy. The present PML-N government came to power as a result of rigged election. Every political party in parliament said that the 2013 elections were rigged. Even the Election Commission of Pakistan report of the last election admitted to irregularities on a massive scale.

Soon after the election Imran Khan demanded the audit of four constituencies, but the PML-N government failed to take any action. The PTI went to every institution of Pakistan to get justice, but failed. Mr Khan is justified in his protest against the government. This is the democratic right of an opposition party to go to the public for getting support and tell them of the government’s wrong doing.

The PPP, which was supposed to act as the true opposition party, has joined hands with the government and supporting its corrupt practices.

The PTI sit-in and Mr Khan’s rising popularity is getting on the nerves of the PML-N and its supporters. As regards Mr Khan’s arrest warrants, it was an attempt to harass a political leader who is demanding his right. There are names of the PM and the Punjab chief minister in the FIR on the Model Town incident, so far no arrest warrants have been issued.

Everyone in the public knows that Mr Khan has nothing to do with the attack on the PTV centre in Islamabad. To declare him a proclaimed offender by the PML government was uncalled-for.

If the government is serious about strengthening democracy, it should make a powerful independent judicial commission to investigate the alleged rigging in the 2013 election. Any delay in not accepting the PTI’s demands is not in the country’s interest.

Javaid A. Khan

Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 23th , 2014