- PTI chief says will stage ‘even bigger’ sit-in outside ECP office if it doesn’t respond to his questionnaire on JC probe in two weeks
Congratulating his supporters following Punjab Election Tribunal’s verdict on NA-122, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday announced staging a sit-in outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s office if it failed to respond to his three-point questionnaire on the Judicial Commission findings’ on the role of provincial election chiefs in the 2013 elections.
“I have written a letter to the ECP. Three weeks have passed, but I am yet to get the answer. As a Pakistani citizen, it is my right to get justice,” Khan told his supporters at Zaman Park in the city. He added that he would stage a longer sit-in than the previous one if the commission did not answer his letter in two weeks.
“I don’t want to stage another sit-in. But I feel that I will be forced to do it again. Although government calls the irregularities in elections as mistake, we would describe it as rigging,” Khan said to the charged crowd.
The PTI chief said that the NA-122 verdict showed why Prime Minsiter Nawaz Sharif was not willing to re-open four constituencies. “Two wickets have now fallen. Another is likely to fall next week,” Khan said.
Khan also expressed sympathy with Ayaz Sadiq and his family after his disqualification. “I fully understand the pain of Ayaz Sadiq and his family. But my struggle is for a transparent election system,” he remarked.
Khan congratulated the people who stood by him during the party’s protest sit-ins in Islamabad. He said his party had to struggle for two-and-a-half years for justice, stressing that Pakistan’s electoral system has to be reformed.
“Today NADRA chairman should feel ashamed,” he said, reiterating the allegation that ECP was in cahoots with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in “fixing the match”.
However, the PTI chairman admitted that his party must be organized in order to win the elections, “no matter how large its vote bank is”.
Earlier, talking at the inauguration of PTI Chairman’s Office in Lahore, Khan announced that PTI teams will monitor the news articles published against the party from this office. “We will research big corruption cases as well,” he said.
On the occasion, Khan also eulogized Jamaat Islami (JI) saying it was the “only ideological party” in the country; others are just “family limited companies”. He added that PTI workers’ strength will be their ideology because the “stronger the ideology is, the stronger will be the party”.