ISLAMABAD: The PTI on Monday lashed out at the incumbent government, alleging that it had resurrected the “1971 blueprint” by “first brazenly disqualifying genuinely elected representatives, then fraudulently imposing rejected losers to fabricate a counterfeit majority, and finally forcibly prolonging its rule”.

Reacting to the by-elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following the disqualification of PTI lawmakers after their conviction in the May 9 violence cases, the party’s Central Information Secretary, Sheikh Waqas Akram, criticised the rulers for repeating history’s “gravest mistakes” and learning no lessons from the Fall of Dhaka — a tragedy caused by the “brutal denial of the Awami League’s mandate, systematic oppression, and the callous, step-motherly ‘abuse’ of the people of East Pakistan”.

He insisted that the country was on the verge of security, economic, political, and social collapse, and urged the government to learn from past mistakes by taking corrective and remedial measures instead of repeating old blunders while expecting different results.

Mr Akram said just like the Awami League, the PTI had secured a landslide victory in the February 8, 2024 general elections, only to be “robbed” of its mandate through a “midnight mega poll heist” and a subsequent spree of disqualifications against PTI candidates under “flimsy excuses and the denial of reserved seats, designed to hand a two-thirds majority to the government, enabling it to push through self-serving, anti-democracy, and highly contentious constitutional amendments”.

He expressed surprise at why the current rulers were so intent on replicating the same disastrous model of 1971, raising serious questions about their patriotism and sincerity toward the country.

Mr Akram maintained that such “controlled and rigged” elections could never serve as a true measure of the popularity of the PTI or its founder, Imran Khan — one that was clearly demonstrated when all his past arch-rivals united in a coalition, with the connivance of state institutions, to block his path to power.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2025