Says apologising to Riaz Kiyani doesn’t mean rigging allegations wrong; Says three more ECP officials including Fakharud Din Ibrahim were also involved in rigging
Former Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) additional secretary Afzal Khan on Saturday said that apologising to Riaz Kiyani in court does not mean he has taken back the rigging allegations.
According to details, the former additional secretary termed his apology as respecting the age of ECP member Riaz Kiyani.
Afzal Khan went on to say that three more ECP officials including Fakhar-ud-Din Ibrahim were also involved in rigging.
Earlier, Afzal Khan had accused Justice (r) Riaz Kiyani of conspiring to rig the elections in 2013 upon which Kiyani moved the court. He maintained that the allegations levelled by Afzal Khan were baseless. He also filed a defamation suit worth Rs 20 million against him.
Unable to prove his allegations, Afzal Khan decided to apologise unconditionally before the court.
Riaz Kiyani also forgave him ‘in the name of Allah’. He said that Afzal Khan’s apology had proven his innocence. And thus this drama which had started in the media finally ended in court.
Riaz Kiyani had defended himself at the time and said in a press conference that Afzal Khan is lying. He said that Afzal Khan’s claim that his salary was Rs 1 million was ‘an exaggeration’. He admitted that he was receiving a pension with salary at the same time, which he said is legal. He was referring to a presidential order which gave permission to retired government officials to obtain both a pension and a salary at the same time.
Riaz Kiyani also dismissed another allegation made by Afzal Khan that he was responsible for the sabotage of the entire 2013 general elections. He said that Afzal’s allegations and statements were a child’s tantrum from his enemies. He said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was accusing him of rigging the election because someone was poisoning his ear.
He demanded that the Supreme Court take a suo motu action against Afzal Khan as he accused two former Supreme Court judges in a live TV programme.
Riaz Kiyani filed a petition against Afzal Khan’s allegation maintaining that Afzal had defamed him and hurt his sentiments. After this petition, Afzal Khan apologised unconditionally to Riaz Kiyani, saying he was wrong and had been misled.