PESHAWAR: A Supreme Court lawyer on Friday moved the Peshawar High Court against the current political crisis and prayed the court to declare the 2013 general elections null and void and direct the president of Pakistan to establish a national government with the assistance of armed forces for holding fresh polls.

Khanzada Ajmalzeb Khan, through his constitutional petition, has requested the court to direct the President of Pakistan to dissolve the National and Punjab assemblies as these were “outcome of rigged elections”.

The petitioner stated that on Aug 28 an FIR was registered at Faisal Town police station of Lahore against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab’s Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other cabinet members directly nominating them for the commission of murder and causing injuries to innocent people.

The petitioner stated that Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif along with other public office holders had no legal sanctity to retain their respective offices due to “rigging” in the general elections. He said that PTI chairman Imran Khan and PAT head Tahirul Qadri had also requested their removal due to “fraudulent, illegal and unconstitutional elections”.

The petitioner said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar had stated that 50,000 to 60,000 votes in different constituenciescouldn’t be verified by Nadra which meant that the said votes were ‘fake or bogus’. He added that the disclosure made by former ECP additional secretary Mohammad Afzal that the 2013 general elections were rigged, proved that the demands of Imran and Qadri were ‘correct and legal’.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2014