Peshawar:
In the call of the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan, an important protest was held outside the office of the Pakistan Electoral Commission (ECP) in Peshawar.
Organized by PTI, the demonstration attracted a large crowd, including party workers and members of the Provincial Assembly. In advance of the protest, the authorities cordoned off the ECP office with barbed wire and deployed a heavy police contingent to maintain order.
Singing slogans in support of Imran Khan, PTI supporters demanded the immediate release of the founder of his party and other detainees.
Addressing the protesters, the president of PTI Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Junaid Akbar, special assistant of the Welfare Department of the population of KP, Malik Liaqat Ali Khan, Mna Atif Khan and other leaders of the party alleged that the national institutions were undermining the public mandate.
“The power and privileges of institutions exist due to people; therefore, they must respect the public vote,” emphasized the speakers.
Junaid Akbar said that PTI workers were ready to mobilize in the Adial or D-CoWk prison every time Imran Khan calls.
He accused the institutions of eliminating the political space for PTI and unjustly labeling their peaceful workers as terrorists.
“We are here today to be shameless to the shameless,” he said, marking ECP as the “corruption commission” and a “guardian of the deserters.”
Contenting the guidance of PTI in the case of foreign financing, the leaders questioned why the financial scrutiny of other political parties remained pending.
They affirmed that peaceful protests were taking place throughout the country to claim what they described as a “stolen mandate.”
The speakers denounced the imprisonment of Imran Khan as unfair and demanded their immediate liberation, calling him the hope of the nation and a symbol of the democratic struggle.
They promised that the struggle for democracy, constitutional supremacy and the rule of law would continue.
They requested legal actions against officers who return allegedly involved in a generalized rig during the general elections.
“PTI candidates won by a clear majority, but the ECP, in collusion with others, manipulated the results to guarantee their defeat,” they said, accusing the officers who return from conspiring to alibe the results deliberately. “Such a shameless rig would even be ashamed of a dictator,” they said.
Criticizing the role of ECP, they accused him of announcing pre -written verdicts and disrespecting the vote of the people.
“Those who once demand respect for the vote are now glorifying the boot,” they said. The speakers argued that if electronic voting machines had been used (EVM), the rig would have been exposed in an hour.
In addition, they alleged that the ECP, the PML-N and other institutions worked together to strip PTI of their legitimate seats.
“Despite receiving the public’s vote, PTI candidates were marginalized due to poor planning and open rigs. The seats were granted to candidates from other parties,” they said.
