KARACHI: Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) on Tuesday rejected the results of general elections and demanded that re-elections be conducted in Sindh province, where it said its mandate was stolen.
This demand was made in a high-level meeting presided over by GDA chief Syed Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi Pri Pagaro at his residence Kingri House.
It was attended by Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Faisal Sabzwari, Aamir Hussain Khan, Sindh United Party (SUP) leaders Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, Syed Zain Shah, former federal minister Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi, Syed Ghaus Ali Shah, former home minister of Sindh Zulfiqar Ali Mirza, Fehmida Mirza, Syed Saddaruddin Shah Rashdi, Rashid Khalid Mehmood Soomro, Nusrat Sehar Abbasi and GDA General Secretary Ayaz Latif Palejo.
Pir Pagaro said that in the general elections, the whole nation was fooled on a hollow promise that it would get free and fair elections. Why the mandate of GDA was stolen, he asked.
He said that if their fight was with Punjab, then why the mandate of Sindhi people was stolen? Before the elections, we had complained multiple times but the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did not respond to us, he added.
He said that the candidates of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) were not given response by Sindhi nation and they themselves were disappointed, but when the result of the elections was announced, the same defeated and discarded PPP candidates were shown securing thousands of votes. He said that the elections were fully rigged.
Pagaro said that the PPP was losing the polls but after 6 pm on July 25 the results were changed. He said that the planning for this rigging was made for five days before the polls. He also said that they had thought that 2013 polls were fraud, but the general elections of 2018 were a bigger fraud. He said that no such sham elections were ever held in Pakistan before this farce.
Pagaro said that the GDA had supported Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidates in Sindh and will support the party in the future.
He said that at least 12 thousand votes of GDA were rejected in different polling stations. “Some leaders are stressing for calling a strike in Sindh, but we have to take any decision in the larger national interest and not for personal interests,’’ he said.
Shah said that the people of Pakistan have pinned high hopes on Imran Khan, adding that no any hurdles should be created in the way of Imran Khan’s government if it can fulfil even 50 per cent of the promises of its leader. He said that Imran Khan has to bring back the looted money of Pakistan so as this country could be developed.
Ayaz Latif Palejo said that some important decisions were made in the meeting. He said that GDA has rejected the 2018 elections and demanded re-election in Sindh province. He said that the ECP chairman should resign because he miserably failed to conduct free and fair elections.
He said that GDA will hold protests in entire Sindh in front of media houses and press clubs on Friday after Jumma prayer.
He warned that if their problems were not addressed, GDA would block all roads in Sindh and give a call for a Sindh-wide strike. In another phase of protest, the GDA would hold a big protest in Karachi and 1 million people from across Sindh will be gathered.
Palejo also said that the GDA candidates were defeated under a conspiracy, adding that PPP was facing a defeat in Sindh but GDA’s polling agents were not allowed to enter the polling stations. He said that the GDA will never accept such an engineered result.
