PTI endorses Opp parties’ protest plan against poll rigging

ISLAMABAD  –  The Core Committee of the Paki­stan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday endorsed the decision of the new­ly constituted ‘grand political alli­ance’ of opposition parties to launch a countrywide mass movement after Eidul Fitr against the alleged rigging in February 8 general elections.

The forum announced that the first mega public gathering of the al­liance would be organized on April 13 in Pishin district of Balochistan.

On April 2, the opposition parties including Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awa­mi Party (PMAP), Balochistan Na­tional Party-Mengal (BNP-M), Ja­maat-e-Islami (JI), Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), Majlis Wahdat-e-Mus­limeen (MWM) and PTI had met in Islamabad. The political parties in the meeting agreed to launch a joint effort for complete restoration of democracy, and ensuring indepen­dence of judiciary and civilian su­premacy in the country.

However, the huddle did not for­mally announce the formation of the grand political alliance about which the Core Committee referred to.

The PTI Core Committee ex­pressed serious concerns over the alleged slow pace of court proceed­ings of the cases against PTI found­er Imran Khan. It strongly demand­ed courts to speed up the process of hearing of the cases so as to ensure release of the former prime minister from incarceration at the earliest.

The meeting also demanded that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should restore the PTI’s icon­ic election symbol “bat” without any further delay.

The participants stated that the electoral body did not have any le­gal justification to delay the res­toration of the electoral symbol because the party had already sub­mitted all the relevant details of the intra-party elections. The Core Committee strongly condemned al­leged attempts to tarnish the de­mocracy by making the Senate an incomplete house. The participants also denounced the efforts to ha­rass judges of the Supreme Court and high courts through threaten­ing letters laced with toxic chemi­cal and stressed the need for taking stern action against the responsible. About the issue of Islamabad High Court (IHC) six judges’ letter, the fo­rum reiterated its demand that a full court should be constituted to probe the matter and the court proceed­ings should be broadcast live, be­sides holding a judicial convention.

The meeting strongly denounced the re-arrest and remand to PTI’s women prisoners, especially Aliya Hamza and Sanam Javed.