PESHAWAR: Through a unanimous resolution the tripartite alliance of Awami National Party, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl and Pakistan Peoples Party on Saturday condemned rigging in the May 30 local government elections and announced to observe a province-wide shutter down strike on June 10 to force the government to step down.
The alliance leaders also announced to contact other political parties, including those in the ruling coalition, to join hands against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf to force its government to resign.
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The announcement was made by the alliance president, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, while speaking at a press conference here at the residence of PPP leader Najamuddin Khan in Hayatabad Township. JUI-F provincial general secretary Maulana Shujaul Mulk, PPP former provincial president Rahim Dad Khan, ANP parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak and its former minister Aqil Shah were also present on the occasion.
Mr Hussain blamed Chief Minister Pervez Khattak for rigging in the LG elections, saying that he was responsible for the entire mess. The tripartite alliance, he said, was going to contact all political parties in the province, including those in the government, to invite them to be part of their protest.
Mian Iftikhar says PTI-led govt to be forced to step down for rigging LG polls
The alliance also announced a committee comprising Mr Hussain himself, Aqil Shah, Jalil Jan, Rahmidad Khan, Najamuddin and Shujaul Mulk to persuade the political parties for joining hands with them against the provincial government.
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“We wished to hold an all parties conference, but due to time constraints the three-party alliance preferred to announce strike and continue the protests phase-wise in the province,” he said.
Mr Hussain said that if the provincial government did not resign on its own then the opposition parties would force it to step down.
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PTI chairman Imran Khan, he said, had admitted that the elections were rigged and at the same time the two allied parties in the government were also saying so, but even then the chief minister was not ready to step down.
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He said that they had deiced to hold a province-wide shutter down strike against poll rigging on June 10 and asked the traders community to support the call.
Mr Hussain, however, refused to comment on questions about outright rejection of the LG election results and said that it would be premature to comment on this issue at this stage. “We will move from one step to other to push the government to resign.”
He also demanded amendments to the Local Government Act so that no one else including the caretaker setup could misuse the official powers. He demanded compensation for those killed and injured during the polls.
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About the alleged involvement of government officials in rigging, he said that such officials needed to be awarded punishment. He said that the government machinery was still making attempts to change the election results in different districts of the province.
He alleged that the chief minister was supervising the campaign to have his party governments in districts and inviting independent candidates to his office.
The ANP leader alleged that the government also tried to rig polls in those districts where opposition parties managed to record victory. He defended the Election Commission of Pakistan and blamed the PTI government, saying that it crippled the polls body by taking maximum powers in its hands. He said that the provincial government carried out the delimitation process instead of allowing ECP to do this, and refused to conduct phase-wise polls.
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Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2015
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