NEW DELHI: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday demanded high treason proceedings against officials who were allegedly involved in rigging in Pakistan elections held in February.
He claimed that the new government was formed by stealing his party’s mandate as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) bagged over 30 million votes whereas the rest of the 17 political parties jointly secured the same number of votes.
“First, the PTI was denied its electoral symbol of bat under a conspiracy and then the former ruling party was deprived of its share of reserved seats,” Imran Khan said, as he sought high treason proceedings against officials who stole the people’s mandate.
The theft of the mandate was akin to treason, which attracted Article 6 of the Constitution, the cricketer-turned politician said.
Imran Khan’s remark came after the hearing of the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case in which his wife Bushra Bibi, aide Farah Gogi and property tycoon Malik Riaz are also implicated. The PTI founder is currently serving sentences in various cases including the Toshakhana case.
He said the order of the Peshawar high court (PHC) on reserved seats would be challenged in the Supreme Court, adding that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) could not allocate PTI’s seats to other political parties.
Khan further said the February 8 election was a fixed match in which the ‘ECP and the caretaker government were hand in glove’ and added that few political parties and the establishment ‘sabotaged the plan to bring in electronic voting.’
Pakistan’s former PM also termed the upcoming elections for the Senate a ‘fixed match’, which is scheduled to take place on April 2.
Meanwhile, a protest was held outside the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarter in the US against the alleged rigging in the polls.
Khan, 71, in his remarks, supported the demonstration outside the IMF office but distanced himself from the anti-Army slogans raised by the protesters.
Rejecting the criticism that PTI left the country on the verge of default, the former premier said that the incumbent government was not sustainable due to the fragile economy.
According to him, the PML-N left a USD 20 billion deficit in 2018 and there was no other option available but to approach the IMF.
The jailed leader said that the ties with the government will only heal after the fair audit of the February 8 elections which were marred by the allegations of vote rigging.
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