- Railways minister dissuades PTI chief from protesting, proposes formation of all-parties fact finding committee to probe rigging in elections
Rejecting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s elections rigging allegations, Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has proposed the formation of an all-parties fact finding committee to probe rigging allegations in four constituencies each won by Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) and PTI.
Speaking during the National Assembly (NA) session Thursday, the railways minister rejected the statistics of the PTI chairman on rigging in general elections. He said PTI has hurled accusations but has not come up with proofs.
Rafique said that sit-ins should not be staged to ‘malign and dictate the judiciary’ rather a fact finding committee comprising members from all political parties should be constituted to probe into rigging allegations. He offered that four constituencies of PML-N and four proposed by PTI could be investigated. Both the parties could submit evidences before the committee, he added.
“PTI has already asked for verification of votes and if that is the case, we ask for verification of votes in four constituencies. In case your [PTI’s] ulterior motives are other than this, we do not have a solution to that,” said Rafique.
The proposed constituencies include Rawalpindi’s NA-56, won by PTI Chairman Imran Khan defeating PML-N’s Haneef Abbasi, Rawalpindi’s NA-55, won by Sheikh Rashid Ahmed of Awami Muslim League (AML), Lahore’s NA-126, won by PTI’s Shafqat Mehmood and the constituency of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.
The railways minister also questioned the rationale behind the May 11 rally, saying that Imran could have brought elections reforms package in NA instead of protesting. He said PTI wanted to achieve ‘some other motives’ through the planned sit-in.