ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday warned all the “state institutions” that if the people’s mandate was stolen in today’s election of chief minister Punjab by what he called ‘Zardari and Co’, no one would be able to stop the “country from turning into Sri Lanka”.

In a video link address, he said that the “people would take to the streets without any further delay if Zardari is not reined in as he is openly using his ill-gotten money to buy the conscience of the PTI MPAs which is a direct assault on the people’s mandate”.

He announced that the PTI would not accept next general elections under the incumbent Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja no matter what, adding that he had not seen such a “dishonest man throughout his political career”.

The PTI chief alleged that the CEC had a track record of giving verdicts against the PTI, which he claimed is evident from his recent verdict in PP-7 vote recounting.

He further alleged that the CEC postponed LG polls in Karachi and Hyderabad under the pretext of monsoon rains and to please his “masters”.

Referring to Pattan Development Organization (PATTAN) survey about electronic voting machines (EVMs), he said it pointed out that there are 163 ways to rig the polls, but through EVMs, 130 rigging methods could be controlled.

“The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) opposed the EVMs and above all this CEC opposed the EVMs which shows his ‘ill intentions to rig the polls’,” he opined.

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He said that the way “my nation” came out to protect their votes despite all the tactics used by the incumbent regime and the ECP, is commendable.

Khan said that “three stooges are making all-out efforts to use money and buy the conscience of our people like they did to topple my government in April this year by becoming a part of the foreign conspiracy”.

He also lambasted the coalition partners who left the PTI in wake of the no-confidence motion against him, saying they took all the benefits; got votes in the name of the PTI, blackmailed his government whenever they got the opportunity, etc., but joined hands with the PDM when the PTI needed them “under the directives of their handlers whosoever they are as claimed by Javed Latif of the PML-N”.

The former prime minister alleged that Zardari used “money openly and our apex court should have taken notice of it when the mandate of the people was being stolen”.

“No court took notice of what Zardari was doing, and now again he is making all out efforts to buy the PTI MPAs despite a landslide victory of the PTI in the Punjab by-polls,” he lamented.

“Zardari is known as Mr Ten Percent. He was thrown into jail twice by the Sharifs, and that the same used to dub the Sharifs as thieves…books were written about the corruption of these people, but they are wandering openly as they have done no corruption,” he said.

In the same breath, he said that the graft cases against Sharifs and Zardari before the NAB were open and shut cases but despite, the utmost efforts by his party’s government for three and a half years, they got scot-free as ‘we had no power’.

“I was helpless and those who had the power saved these crooks that is quite unfortunate. We had nothing as the NAB was not in our control. We have no idea who was controlling them. These people are looting the country and they’re being protected still,” he added.

He lamented that a man like Zardari is acting like a king maker instead of being in jail for plundering national wealth, adding the irony of the matter is that Karachi which is the financial hub is ruled by him and the plundering of national wealth is continuing non-stop.

“The financial capital (Karachi) is under the thieves. And now through that corrupt money he is moving from pillar to post to buy the PTI MPAs ahead of CM Punjab polls,” he added.

“You are mistaken if you think we will sit idle if the people’s mandate is stolen. Our struggle will remain within the Constitution, but we will not tolerate if the CM Punjab election is made controversial by ‘the Zardaris and Co’,” he warned.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022