WASHINGTON: The United States House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted in favour of an impartial investigation into the claims of election manipulation in Pakistan, following the February 8 national polls, emphasizing the need for people’s participation in the democratic process in the South Asian country.
Pakistan’s last general polls were marred by a nationwide mobile Internet shutdown on Election Day, arrests and violence in its build-up and unusually delayed results, leading to accusations that the vote was rigged.
The issue was most forcefully raised by former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), whose leaders had to participate in the electoral contest as independent candidates after being deprived of their symbol, the cricket bat, following a legal battle over an intra-party election deemed flawed by the election authority, the Arab News reported Wednesday.
Much of the PTI leadership, including Khan, found itself behind bars on a range of legal charges as the country went to the polls, though the candidates supported by it emerged as the single largest bloc in the National Assembly.
The US house voted 368-7 over a resolution calling for “full and independent investigation of claims of interference or irregularities in Pakistan’s February 2024 election.”
It condemned “attempts to suppress the people of Pakistan’s participation in their democracy, including through harassment, intimidation, violence, arbitrary detention, restrictions on access to the Internet and telecommunications, or any violation of their human, civil, or political rights.”
The House Resolution 901 said it was to express support for democracy and human rights in Pakistan.
It urged the government to uphold democratic and electoral institutions, human rights, and the rule of law, asking it to respect the fundamental guarantees of due process, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and speech of the people of Pakistan.
It also condemned “any effort to subvert the political, electoral, or judicial processes of Pakistan.”
Commenting on the development, Michael Kugelman, Director of South Asia Institute at The Wilson Centre in Washington, said the margin of vote was significant.
“85 percent of House members voted on it, and 98 percent voted in favour of the resolution,” he noted in a social media post. “This is quite significant.”