QUETTA/GWADAR: The Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party and National Party have announced launching a protest movement across Balochistan against what called massive rigging in the general election, alleging that poll results of their members were changed in favour of candidates of other parties.

Announcing the decision at separate press conferences in Quetta and Turbat on Friday, both the PkMAP and NP leaders said they would not accept the election results and resist the move to convert “our victory into defeat” through such tactics.

PkMAP Chairman Mehmood Khan warned that if “real results” were not announced by Saturday (today) afternoon, he party would launch a countrywide protest. He claimed that on three national and six provincial assembly seats, the victory of PkMAP had turned into defeat in just 12 hours.

He accused the “state agencies” of indulging in corruption, claiming that they had taken millions of rupees from the candidates of other parties and independents for changing the results of PkMAP candidates. He said his party believes in the Constitution and democracy and to defend democratic freedom they would start a movement of protests from every street.

Allege ‘victory’ of their candidates converted into ‘defeat’

“There are conspiracies to keep us out of parliament, but the party will remain peaceful,” he added.

National Party President Dr Abdul Malik Baloch and Secretary General Jan Buledi announced the decision to launch a series of protests in Balochistan from Saturday against alleged rigging in the general election.

The protests will include demonstrations, wheel-jam and shutter-down strikes, and rallies throughout Balochistan.

Dr Malik emphasised that they had been assured by the military and political leadership that the elections would be conducted in a fair and transparent manner, prompting the National Party to participate in them. But “everything has been turned upside down; someone wins, and someone else’s notification is issued”, he alleged.

Dr Malik said that despite being targeted multiple times during the campaigns, his party’s candidates actively participated in the electoral process. He claimed that they had expected to win 10 to 11 seats throughout Balochistan, but election results had been altered.

Jan Buledi said the current situation is a continuation of what had occurred in 2018, alleging that a conspiracy has been hatched to sideline the National Party. He accusing a mafia supported by state agencies of attempting to manipulate the 2024 elections to counter political workers and steal people’s mandate.

Referring to the results of a constituency in Quetta, Mr Buledi expressed shock that Jamal Raisani was declared the winner over BNP President Sardar Akhtar Mengal.

The NP leaders declare their intention to reach out to other political parties in Balochistan to garner support for the protest movement.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2024