HYDERABAD, May 15: A multi-party conference held here on Wednesday and attended by nearly all opponent parties and groups of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) demanded re-election across Hyderabad under the supervision of the army, declaring that the May 11 general elections were enormously rigged.
The conference, presided over by Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP) leader Sahibzada Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair, also announced a joint sit-in protest to be held at Pakistan Chowk on Thursday to press the election commission to announce fresh polls on Hyderabad seats of the National and Sindh assemblies.
Haji Moinuddin Sheikh, Hussain Bukhsh Hussaini of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP), Sajid Kazmi and Imran Suharwardi of the Sunni Tehreek (ST), Abdul Waheed Qureshi and Sheikh Shaukat Ali of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Noor Ahmed Katiyar of the Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT), Dr Mustansir Billa and Usman Kennedy of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Maulana Saeed Jadoon and Advocate Bilal Ahmed of the Muttahida Deeni Mahaz (MDM), Khalid Dhamra of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional and representatives of some other parties participated in the conference.
During the deliberations, a committee headed by QAT chief Ayaz Latif Palijo was constituted to adopt a legal course to challenge election results.
Sahibzada Zubair told the conference that a scrutiny of thumb impressions could easily distinguish between genuine and bogus votes and, therefore, such a process should be undertaken to ensure transparency. He said that the electronic, print and social media had already verified rigging claims.
Criticising the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the JUP leader said it was playing the role of a silent spectator despite receiving complaints and proof of large-scale rigging.
He termed the May 11 election ‘a drama’, and said the results insulted the masses.
“It is now necessary to hold free and fair elections across Hyderabad under the army’s supervision,” he stressed, and demanded posting of army personnel inside all polling stations and booths to rid people of ‘thappa (stamping) mafia’. He said people must be given an absolutely secure environment to cast their votes without any fear or intervention.
QAT, SUP back strike callThe Sindh United Party (SUP) and the QAT on Wednesday announced their full support for the PML-F’s province-wide call for a strike on Thursday against ‘massive rigging’ in the elections.
QAT chief Mr Palijo said he had directed the party cadre to observe a strike, urging the election commission to hold free and fair elections across Sindh. “The caretaker government allowed the PPP and MQM to stuff ballot boxes during the polling,” he alleged.
He said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Wednesday spoke to him over the phone and held out the assurance that grievances of the Sindh people would be addressed by the PML-N government.
Meanwhile, SUP president Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah in a statement issued here on Wednesday announced his party’s support for the PML-F strike call for Thursday.
He said that ballots were handed over to certain PPP candidates on the of May 10 and evidence in this regard had already been provided to the returning officers concerned. Despite this, the ECP declared the results which indicated its partiality. He demanded a scrutiny of voters’ thumb impressions to discard bogus votes.
‘Rigging evidence’Independent candidate for PS-50 Tandojam Khawand Bukhsh Jahejo on Wednesday appeared before the district returning officer of Hyderabad and submitted what he claimed to be ‘evidence of rigging’ including a bunch of ballot papers and some counter folios.