PTI’s summer of discontent peaks

SIALKOT: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) continues to take potshots at the PML-N government asking it to make a clean breast of rigging in the 2013 general elections. Speaking to a capacity crowd at Jinnah Stadium on Saturday evening, PTI chairman Imran Khan pledged to keep the movement against rigging alive. He announced that Bahawalpur would be the next port of call on June 22 (Sunday).He demanded vote recount in NA-110, Sialkot-I, through thumb verification. He alleged rigging was done in the constituency which paved the way for Khwaja Muhammad Asif to win against PTI’s Usman Dar. He urged the judiciary to rise to the occasion and play a role in providing justice to the nation by taking note of engineered election results. “It is high time the supreme judiciary take notice of rigging and rid the country of the stigma the 2013 poll results brought in their wake,” he said. He said an independent election tribunal could be helpful in detecting the fraud. Demands vote recount on Sialkot seat Acknowledging the support of the people who had come out in droves in scorching sun, he said the masses were getting restless with every passing day due to many issues. Stalwarts like Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Awami Muslim League President Sheikh Rashid and local PTI leaders and workers stood behind Imran who asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to bring back $200 billion from Swiss accounts to pull the country out of the quagmire. Imran dispelled the impression that there was any threat to democracy due to his party’s ongoing campaign. The PTI, he said, stood for democracy and would safeguard the Constitution. He said the PML-N government had failed to go by its word and “broken all records of acquiring foreign loans in one year.” He said he would tax the rich after coming into power. The biggest problem Pakistan was facing was dynastic politics. “This is not democracy; this is monarchy,” he remarked. He once again accused the PML-N and Iftikhar Chaudhry of rigging the 2013 elections and called for action against them under Article 6. Today’s massive show had proved that Sialkot was a PTI fort, he said and added that people need food, shelter and clothes, and not metro trains. He said initiatives in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would have positive results in the coming three months and the slogan of change would become a reality. The PTI chairman earlier had a word with reporters and assured the people that there was no plan to topple the elected government. Sheikh Rashid declared the National Assembly a “fake assembly” and said the budget brought no relief to people. He said the armed forces of Pakistan were being disgraced in the country. Javed Hashmi, Jehangir Tareen and Shah Mehmood Qureshi also spoke. Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2014