KARACHI: Activists of the opposition parties’ alliance Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal led by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl and the Awami National Party on Thursday staged a protest sit-in outside the Election Commission, Sindh, offices against what they called “rigged” elections of July 25.

The participants in the sit-in chanted slogans that they did not accept the election results, the election commissioner should resign and fresh elections be held in the country.

On the occasion, police force was deployed outside the EC offices with an armoured vehicle and a water cannon to meet any untoward situation.

Speaking on the occasion, MMA leaders Maulana Rashid Mehmood Soomro, Aslam Ghauri, Younus Buneri, Abdul Rashid Nomani and others accused the police of stopping their colleagues at different places, including Sohrab Goth and Hasan Square, from joining them at the protest sit-in.

They said that the mandate of the people had been stolen to impose Imran Khan on them. They also said that if their leadership ordered them, they would block all roads to Karachi. They also warned that if fresh elections were not held, there would be “Damadam must Qalandar” across the country. They said that they would continue to block the way of “Ladla” until their demands were met.

Maulana Rashid Mehmood said: “We reject the election results and on Aug 14 instead of celebrating Independence Day, we will observe an ‘Independence struggle Day’.

ANP leader Younus Buneri said that after “stealing” the mandate, a particular party was being imposed on the people which had shattered the confidence whatsoever people had in democracy in the country. “We would never accept the results of rigged elections,” he added.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2018