LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s incarcerated leader Dr Yasmin Rashid has sent a message for judges that several Pakistani women are behind bars for nine months “as a part of a political victimisation spree”.

A post on PTI’s official X handle, attributed to Dr Rashid, said she was compelled to state that the “law was not only blind but deaf and dumb too. Mothers, sisters and daughters are incarcerated without evidence of any crime but as a part of political victimisation,” Dr Rashid said.

Runner-up from NA-130, she said that the masses came out to vote in an environment of intimidation on Feb 8 but their votes had been stolen.

Urging the judges to respect their duty of dispensation of justice, she stated that people had lost hope in the Election Commission of Pakistan and were looking towards the judiciary for justice.

“The judges must protect the mandate of the people of Pakistan,” Dr Rashid said.

Speaking to Dawn, PTI campaign organiser Sajid Nabi Malik said the caretaker government had committed massive rigging in NA-130 that saw an election contest between Dr Yasmin Rashid and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif.

He said the PTI-backed candidate was winning with a substantial lead as per Form-45 results. As the NA-130 returning officer was finalising vote count, he said, the results were stopped and police led by a senior officer entered the RO office. They threw out polling agents who were there in place of the candidate herself.

“As the RO refused to change the results, the policemen tortured him and compelled him to leave. Another RO was appointed late in the night and in his presence, the process of rigging was completed,” Mr Malik claimed.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2024