Planned party conventions: PTI accuses govts of denying it level playing field
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PTI) on Saturday accused the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of acting as a silent spectator as local administrations and police are openly defying high courts’ orders by “kidnapping” its workers and leaders from holding party convention ahead of general elections.
Speaking at a presser, PTI spokesman for legal affairs Shoaib Shaheen, regretted that the caretaker administration in both Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are flouting the high courts’ orders as both Lahore and Peshawar high courts allowed PTI to hold conventions.
He said PTI workers were rounded up by police in Lahore, followed by Karak and Abbottabad, while the party of a convicted former prime minister is holding rallies all over the country in full protocol of police provided by the caretaker setups.
He said providing a level playing field to all political parties is the responsibility of the caretaker set ups which the ECP must ensure instead of taking dictations from somewhere else to suppress the most popular political party of the country.
“The way PTI is being treated is neither legal nor constitutional. We always believed in a peaceful politics unlike other parties which have a track record of violence,” he maintained.
The next elections are going to be the most crucial elections, and he insisted if not held in a free and fair manner, the investor is not going to come to the country, for which there is a need to ensure a level playing field to all political parties.
In an obvious reference to rival Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), he said PTI neither asked to divert the plane of an army chief to India, attacked Supreme Court nor targeted the military leadership.
He called upon the caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar to stop his rhetoric of holding transparent elections and instead take practical steps or else the country would become a laughing stock before the world.
He said the ongoing tenure of the caretaker setups throughout the country is illegal and unconstitutional, as the caretaker governments’ nominees – whoever had handpicked them to serve in the caretaker setup – are sticking to their positions without any legal remedy.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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