In a fresh twist, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a petition seeking to declare the Pakistan elections null and void on Monday, according to reports. The filing of the petition comes on the heels of Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Liaquat Ali Chatta resigning—after holding a press conference—from his position to protest “rigging’’ in his division.
"We converted the losers into winners with 50,000 votes margin," he has been quoted in media reports and has surrendered himself before the police. “We wronged the country...I should be executed in Rawalpindi's Kachehri Chowk’’ he has been quoted in a video. In what was a rather dramatic declaration, he claimed that he even tried to take his own life and that his officers were crying for what they were asked to do.
This ‘confession’ of course has been rejected by the government. Both the petition—which will be heard by a three-member bench on Monday—as well as the allegations by the officer comes at a time when there are wide-spread protests by the former Prime Minister Imran Khan over the “rigging’’ of the elections.
"The PTI has called for country-wide protests against the unprecedented, massive, brazen rigging in general elections 2024, where PTI's win of 180 National Assembly seats and a two-thirds majority in the parliament, was cut down to half," the party said in a statement.
While PTI-backed independents have bagged 93 seats in the Assembly, it is the PML-N with 75 seats and the PPP 54 that are trying to form the government. Former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is slated to come back as PM and Asif Ali Zardari as president.
However, Khan’s party is determined to go quietly in the night and has raised questions of the credibility of the elections. Khan has urged America to question the transparency of the process—a move that has been criticised by the PML-N as an attempt “against Pakistan’s sovereignty.”
The next few days will promise to be interesting in Pakistan. Whatever the results, however, the acrimony between the PTI and the government—if it is formed—and the establishment is only likely to grow. And unless there is a way for dialogue, there are turbulent times ahead for the country.
