Dr Tahirul Qadri on Sunday announced that Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) would not take part in upcoming general elections, saying that in the presence of unreformed election commission his party would not contest the polls.
Addressing his supporters here at Liaqat Bagh, Rawalpindi Qadri said that at the time of elections his party workers would hold sit-ins at difference places across the country as a sign of protest against the government for not reforming the election commission as per PAT chief's demand.
He said that he wanted to create a new Pakistan by combining the presidential and the parliamentary systems. There should be at least 35 provinces in the country, he suggested.
Qadri further said that electoral reforms promised to him were not fulfilled and he was not willing to become part of the current corrupt political system.
Earlier, Dr Qadri said that Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had not been formed as per Article 213 of the constitution, adding that the commission should be impartial and reconstituted.
Coming down hard on Punjab government he said that in the biggest province of the country the Chief Minister was occupying 18 ministries, adding that in Punjab only one provincial minister was known by the general public and the others were unknown to them.
Harshly criticising the ECP, Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said the commission was deaf, dumb and involved in all sorts of corruption.
The PAT chief said that he had been elected as MNA in 2002 and resigned in 2004, adding that nothing was being done in the National Assembly for the welfare of masses, therefore, he launched campaign for change and awareness among the people.
He said that in January he had announced that neither he nor any of his family members would take part in the elections. He that his family members were legally qualified to take part in the elections, but the step was taken as a token gesture to promote democracy.
The PAT chief in January singed a deal with the ruling coalition, as per which he was to be consulted by the government over the formation of caretaker government.
He asked the media to take up the issue in the larger public interest, adding that he wanted to tell the people of Pakistan through the public rally that if the incumbent system, which was being dubbed as 'democratic, stayed intact, no change would come about through it. He who would contest elections under the present electoral system would fail.
The political parties, Qadri added, accepted the system because they had winning horses and the system protected their parochial interests. He said that people would never be able to bring about change through their votes as they did not possess the power to do so because vote was not an agent of change in our political system. He said that vote was used as a façade to put in place a fake democratic system.
He said that the current system had snatched people's livelihood, their sovereignty, their integrity and paralysed them. He categorically stated that real change was not possible through current electoral system. The rally was attended by thousands of charged PAT workers, chanting slogans in favour of their leader and against the electoral system.