ISLAMABAD: A visibly angered Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Gohar Ali Khan on Monday said that the party would jump on the electoral bandwagon even if the iconic bat electoral is snatched from the party and any other symbol is imposed on all coercive vibes.
Speaking at a presser here, he said the party would not boycott the Feb 08 election no matter as it would jump into fray with some other election symbol if its iconic bat symbol is snatched from the party.
He said the Peshawar High Court (PHC) had directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to issue the intra-party elections notification, but it did not which was contempt of court.
He continued that the PTI was being pushed against the wall as its lawyers were kidnapped outside ROs offices all over the country by policemen without any reason, and the lawyers from rival Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were accorded a warm welcome which was not acceptable.
He called upon the judiciary to play its due role to resolve the issues to ensure free and fair elections, adding only the judiciary could play role to ensure a level playing field to
all the parties or it would be too late.
In the same breath, he said “it is now or never the judiciary especially Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa needs to take notice of what is being done to PTI or things will get worse. “
He said the party had already chalked out a ‘Plan B’ and ‘Plan C’ to reach parliament, adding “we will accept another electoral symbol if bat is not allocated, but we will not boycott the polls”.
The PTI chief said the issue of general elections was already pending before the apex court and hopefully it would play its due role in ensuring transparent elections which is the need of the hour.
He insisted that the party had no strained relations with the establishment and other state institutions, adding “the armed forces are ours and we have no tense ties with the establishment or any other institution.”
Meanwhile, PTI lawyer Shoaib Shaheen boasted about the role being played by the party’s legal team amid a crackdown on the party leaders and workers.
To a question where he went “missing” after the Chief Justice of Pakistan asked him to wait as he would listen to him later during a case on election issues, he said the way the PTI legal team was playing its role was simply incomparable.
The CJP kept asking about him but Shaheen was busy talking to media outside the apex court instead of waiting for his turn in the court, which drew the ire of netizens.
When asked about his absence, the PTI lawyer had nothing to say except blowing his own trumpet.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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