PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) provincial president Aimal Wali Khan on Wednesday demanded of Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa to probe the ‘unprecedented rigging’ in the Feb 8 general elections.

“If the Supreme Court’s inquiry begins, I will produce more than 50 people, who were approached by the ‘powerful’ people to offer election victory for money. I will share their WhatsApp messages with the chief justice of Pakistan,” Mr Aimal told a rally against election “rigging” outside the provincial assembly building.

ANP central general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain and provincial general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak also addressed protesters.

The ANP provincial president said that all nationalist parties, which were protesting poll rigging in different parts of the country, should unite to take their movement forward effectively.

Aimal urges nationalists to protest together

He said that his party’s struggle for the supremacy of the Constitution would continue.

Mr Aimal said the struggle was also meant for the freedom of those judges who didn’t decide cases on their own.

He wondered why the Supreme Court didn’t take notice of the countrywide political protests against poll “rigging.”

The ANP leader came down hard on authorities for creating problems for the party workers wanting to attend protest rallies.

He warned that if the practice continued, the ANP would demonstrate outside the Peshawar corps commander’s house.

In a veiled reference to the PTI, Mr Aimal insisted that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been handed over to the attackers of military installations on May 9 after the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan.

He said that the ANP would not backtrack from its demand for the supremacy of the Constitution and the dispensation of justice.

The ANP leader and protesters vowed that they, along with their family members and the next generation, would continue the struggle for the constitutional rights of the people.

He urged the military to perform its basic duty of protecting the country’s borders.

ANP central general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain told protesters that the security establishment was “punishing the ANP for being nonviolent and for raising voice for the rights of the people.’

He claimed that election rigging took away 25 assembly seats from the ANP.

“If the votes polled on Feb 8 are fairly counted, we [ANP] will have the majority of seats in this house,” he said.

Mr Hussain said through rigging in the Feb 8 general elections, all those, who used to raise voices inside parliament for the betterment of Pakistan, were sidelined.

He warned parliamentarians against “even thinking about amending” the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, February 29th, 2024