KARACHI: Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that controversial elections can never lead the country towards progress, Dawn.com reported.

Talking to the media in Rawalpindi on Thursday, the former prime minister said that while general elections were a “constitutional necessity”, it was incumbent upon the political leadership to make them “meaningful”.

“We have stolen every election since 1947. A country where the public’s opinion is not respected can never make progress,” he said, adding that if the politics of “garnering votes through pressure” was not rejected, the country could not move forward.

The estranged PML-N leader, who had developed differences with the party leadership over the last year, said he had decided against contesting the Feb 8 polls but had not quit politics.

“Elections are a constitutional necessity — it is not a choice whether to hold elections or not — but it is the political leadership’s duty to make the elections meaningful and a way to solve the country’s problems,” he said and lamented that the political leadership has failed in this action.

According to Mr Abbasi, the only way to move forward was for the politi-cal, military and judicial leadership to come together and determine the path ahead.

He said the onus is on Chief Election Commis­sioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, and caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar to ensure that the upcoming elections are “non-controversial”.

“With each passing day, I become more satisfied that I made the right decision. Such an election, which does not give the country anything other than incitement and flaws; at least I did not play a part in this misdeed,” he said.

Criticising institutions like the National Account­ability Bureau (NAB) and the Anti-Corruption Estab­lishment (ACE), he said it was a “misfortune” that they had become the “most corrupt institutions”.

Alleging that these institutions were now solely used to “break and dis-tort polls”, the ex-PM said the entities themselves were the ones “contesting elections”.

When asked about reports of him and other leaders — including Mustafa Khokhar and Miftah Ismail — forming a new party, Mr Abbasi said, “A [political] party is not formed in such an environment.”

In an apparent reference to the PML-N, the PTI and the PPP, he said, “The three major political parties in Pakistan today have failed.”

He further said he would decide on his political future after the Feb 8 general elections.

When asked if the perpetrators behind the violence in the country on May 9 — when riots broke out following the arrest of PTI founder Imran Khan — should be provided with a level playing field, Mr Abbasi said that action should have been taken against the individuals by collecting evidence and following the legal process.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2024