Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Khwaja Saad Rafique has said there would be no legal and constitutional status of elections for the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, as they were being held against 70 percent bogus electoral rolls. Addressing a press conference on Friday, he said the PML-N would not only fight the legal war against the pre-poll rigging, but its candidates would also take full part in the polls.
MNAs Mian Marghoob Ahmed, Bilal Yasin, Pervaiz Malik, AJK PML-N election coordinator Syed Naseebullah Gardezi, PML-N’s AJK candidate Mirza Abdul Rashid Jarral and Ghulam Abbas Mir were also present.
Saad said the PML N had filed a constitutional petition in the Supreme Court against the intervention of the Election Commission of Pakistan in AJK elections, while the High Court of AJK would start hearing the case of fake voter lists on Monday. He alleged AJK elections were being rigged on the directions of President Asif Ali Zardari and the PPP had once again decided to rob the mandate of voters by maintaining its previous traditions of 1971 and 1977”. Expressing his annoyance with the AJK Election Commission, he said the individual petitions of PML-N candidates had been disregarded by the AJK EC.
The PML-N leader said funds for the Benazir Income Support and Pakistan Baitul Mal were being misused in the AJK elections and called the chief election commissioner a puppet of the federal government.
Saad said despite clear orders by the Supreme Court, the existing voter lists were not presented to the people before their final publication, while the ECP was also interfering in the AJK elections by surpassing its jurisdiction.
He said NIC numbers were not mentioned in the voter lists and the addresses written against the names of the candidates were incomplete.
The PML-N leader said fake ID cards had also been made to rig the elections. He also vented his anger over Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s participation in the AJK election campaign, alleging that the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs was involved in the rigging.
Saad hoped the Supreme Court and AJK High Court ensure transparent elections in the region. To a question, Saad said he hoped the security establishment would not interfere in the elections. He said there was yellow democracy in the country and the PML-N had always raised its voice in order to protect democracy, judiciary and the media.
Criticizing the central leadership of the PPP, he said Asif Ali Zardari had disappointed the nation, adding that the PML-N would not allow anyone to bulldoze any pillar of state.
