While Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N)’s Secretary of Information Murriyum Aurangjeb publicly said Imran Khan, former Prime Minister and leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) should have been beheaded when they staged a marathon sit-in in Islamabad in an attempt to topple a PML-N led government; in a stunning admission, Rawalpindi Divisional Commissioner (DC) Liaquat Ali Chatta addressed the media during a press conference has described how the election results were stolen from PTI-backed independent candidates with the nefarious target of keeping Imran Khan and PTI away from forming government in the country.
Most importantly, what Murriyum Aurangjeb has said may now ring the alarm as a PML-N government may use state machinery in implementing its nefarious agenda of burying Imran Khan and his party forever from politics, where the next prime minister of PML-N government may enjoy unconditional support and patronization from Pakistan’s military establishment as well as its scary intelligence agency – Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI).
Meanwhile, according to Pakistani media, talking to journalists in Rawalpindi, PML-N’s Hanif Abbasi said that the allegations made by the Rawalpindi Commissioner could potentially be part of “an external conspiracy”.
Accusing him of having close ties with foreigners, Abbasi questioned how the Chattha could be aware of the voting details. He said that the commissioner’s retirement is scheduled for next month.
The PML-N further challenged the commissioner to provide evidence supporting these allegations, saying that if the accusations are proven true, he will be the first to resign from his seat.
The PML-N leader said that the commissioner’s statements were entirely fabricated, asserting that there was no meddling in the electoral process, and the commissioner lacked the authority to oversee the polls.
Commenting on Liaquat Ali Chatta’s bombshell admission, Pakistan’s leading English newspaper The Dawn in an editorial said, “It seems there will be no avoiding the inevitable for the ECP [Election Commission of Pakistan]. Rawalpindi commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha’s Saturday press conference, during which he dropped bombshell allegations against the CEC, has strengthened the demands for an immediate and independent audit of election results. The senior officer, while expressing regret for “facilitating” the rigging of election results, asked to be punished while also holding the respective heads of the judiciary and ECP responsible for “the theft of the people’s mandate”.
In an opinion-editorial, Nasir Jamal wrote in The Dawn, “Pakistan’s economic challenges, particularly its fragile external and liquidity position and unsustainable budget deficit, are enormous, and the Feb 8 polls have failed to bring even a semblance of political stability needed to deal with them by producing a fractured mandate”.
Some analysts are saying – even if a government is formed defying serious allegations of vote rigging or electoral fraud – it cannot continue for more than a year. Meaning, Pakistan, a country which currently is facing the risk of bankruptcy – may end up in a situation even worse than ever before. Taking undue advantage of it – mighty military officials may move ahead with another martial law proclamation. Under any of the anticipated consequences – the worst sufferer would be Imran Khan and members of PTI. Because they are the main victims of Pakistani military establishment, while key figures in Pakistani ISI may make scary attempts in killing Imran Khan in jail and declare PTI leaders and supporters as terrorists.
