ISLAMABAD: PPP’s secretary general Sardar Latif Khosa has severely criticised PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif for his statement that only the decision taken by the people of Punjab in the May 11 elections was wise.

Addressing a news conference at the PPP’s central secretariat on Wednesday, the former Punjab governor accused Mr Sharif of spreading hatred through such controversial remarks. Speaking at a function held in Lahore on Tuesday to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the country’s nuclear tests, Mr Sharif, in his own interpretation of the voting pattern in each federating unit, had said: “Punjab’s decision was wise, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s emotional, Sindh’s traditional and Balochistan, a tribal province, voted for the PML-N.”

Accompanied by senior PPP leader from Balochistan Mir Baz Mohammad Khan Khetran and the party’s media coordinators Syed Wasif and Nazir Dhoki, Mr Khosa said Mr Sharif as prime minister should represent the whole country, and not only Punjab.

The PPP’s secretary general said that the May 11 polls had been manipulated by some international forces.

Without elaborating, he said “some forces” were not happy over the handing over of Gwadar Port to China and signing of the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project. He alleged that under an international conspiracy, the PPP had been restricted to Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa handed over to the Pakhtuns and Punjab to the Punjabis.

Mr Khosa claimed that voter turnout in Balochistan was less than five per cent. Alleging that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had failed to hold fair and transparent elections, he claimed that men had cast votes in place of women in most parts of Balochistan and it could be verified through thumbprints of voters.

He said that despite reservations over the election results his party would support the new government in all its legal and constitutional actions.

Mir Baz Khan Khetran, who had been protesting outside the ECP offices against the alleged rigging in his constituency in Balochistan for the past several days, urged the ECP to use biometric system to identify fake votes. He said the PPP had been deprived of victory in at least 14 national and 46 provincial assembly seats.