Imran Khan Throws Down the Gauntlet By Salman Rasheed

• In today’s jalsa in Rahim Yar Khan, Chairman Imran Khan has thrown down the gauntlet to the PMLN government and demanded a judicial commission under the aegis of the Supreme Court to probe election rigging and fraud that occurred in last year’s election.

• Imran Khan also demanded that the personnel for this judicial commission should be from Military Intelligence (MI) and ISI to ensure an impartial investigation of this serious issue and that the commission should report back in 4 to 6 weeks with its findings.

• During this period of investigation, dharna would continue as it is and if found guilty of rigging by the commission, Nawaz Sharif should resign as Prime Minister and re-elections are held.

• Some argue that PTI’s position has changed from previous stance of having judicial commission and that Prime Minister should step down while investigation is taking place as all the civilian investigative agencies would still be under his influence if he doesn’t and so an impartial investigation is not likely to happen.

• PTI’s previous offer was not accepted by the PMLN side because of demand for PM’s resignation even if it was for only 30 days. In this circumstance where the PM doesn’t want to resign, Imran Khan’s demand of having personnel of MI and ISI on commission is reasonable as the Intelligence Bureau (IB) which is a civilian intelligence gather agency and FIA are both under the Ministry of Interior which is under the control of the federal government and brings their ability to conduct an impartial investigation into question. It’s sad to admit, but in Pakistan, the only institution in which most Pakistanis have trust in is the Pakistan Military and its various institutions.

• The hue and cry by the PMLN and other political parties and some in the media about bringing in the Pak Military especially MI and ISI to investigate election fraud is sour grapes. It was well known that during the previous rounds of negotiations between the government and PTI that a couple of intelligence officers were sitting in these various sessions, why? If the PMLN and status quo parties who criticize military involvement in political affairs, where was the outrage regarding this? The silence was deafening.

• When Imran Khan met the COAS Raheel Sharif in August, it was reported by the ISPR that the COAS was asked by the Prime Minister to act as a ‘facilitator’ between the government and PTI and PAT. Later, the PM backtracked in National Assembly and said he didn’t give such direction to the COAS. Now this matter is before the Supreme Court to determine if the PM lied or not on the floor of the house. If this is true that PM asked COAS to be a ‘facilitator’ then what’s the problem if Imran Khan has demanded MI and ISI personnel to be part of judicial commission?

• It’s still a great mystery when all parties claim rigging occurred, why is PTI the most vocal about having an impartial investigation to dig out the truth? In order to move forward with any kind of electoral reforms, shouldn’t we find out first what happened in the last election so we can address any shortcomings that are discovered?

by webmaster@insaf.pk (tkiadmin)