PML-N rejoinder gives a lie to PTI’s allegations

ISLAMABAD: A rejoinder formulated by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to the allegations of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which will be filed with the judicial commission on Saturday, has given a lie to all the accusations.
The PML-N had no plan to become a party to the proceedings of the commission and was silently but closely watching and monitoring them. However, it will now participate in the process only after it has been asked by the forum, which is inquiring into charges of deliberate systematic manipulation in the 2013 general elections.
A five-member PML-N team including Minister of State Anusha Rehman, Talal Chaudhry, Rohail Asghar and Mohammad Riaz Malik has been regularly attending the proceedings of the commission. Anusha Rehman, a lawyer by profession, had been taking notes during the hearings.
However, when on Thursday Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk asked whether any PML-N representative was present in the courtroom, no member of its team responded. They kept quiet as they were under instructions from the party to do so.
A member of the government team that has prepared the comprehensive PML-N response to the PTI’s charges shared some of its details with The News. It corroborated the reaction of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on issues that were mentioned in its cogent rejoinder, which has already been submitted to the commission.
The PML-N reply said that the PTI itself did not believe that its mandate was stolen and its
internal review commission report held its chairman and the party responsible for their defeat in the 2013 elections. It did not even remotely indicate towards any systematic plan designed to ensure its defeat and the victory of the PML-N.
The response said that the PTI’s losing candidates filed a total of 58 petitions with the election tribunals (ETs). Of them, 30 pleas pertained to the National Assembly of which 19 were in Punjab and 28 petitions related to the provincial seats. This means that even if the PTI were to win all the 19 national seats in Punjab, its total tally would have reached a meagre 53 from its current strength of 34 seats in the National Assembly.
Apart from the 19 election petitions that pertained to Punjab, five related to Sindh and six to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). It is strange that a party claiming systematic mass scale rigging that stole its mandate to rule did not submit more than 30 petitions. It challenged only 11% and had no complaints in remaining 89% constituencies.
In the case of 272 national constituencies, the PTI fielded nearly 241 candidates, leaving 31 seats uncontested.
The response noted that there is no provision of law which states that an unreadable thumb impression will be declared a vote bogus or fake. Selection of ink or any other material was for the ECP to ensure during the caretaker regime and it had nothing to with the PML-N or any of its candidates or member to arrange, transport or supervise. The PML-N did not benefit in any way from whatever quality of ink used as all such votes polled in every constituency were cast in the presence of the polling agents of the candidates and must have been shared amongst all the contestants.
According to the rejoinder, the national and international organizations and polling agencies predicted an outright victory of the PML-N way before the polls and had placed the PTI in third position. National and international observers showed their satisfaction and expressed positive reviews about the elections.
The response said that all the allegations be it regarding non-verification of thumb impressions, printing of so called ballot papers in some imaginary Urdu Bazaar, maligning institutions or individuals etc., have all been vehemently refuted by all concerned.
It said the elections were organised and managed under a 5-member ECP composed of retired superior court judges, selected through due process after consultations with all the parliamentary forces in accordance with the unanimously adopted 18th amendment. Neutral caretaker prime minister, federal and provincial governments were set up through due process devised unanimously by the parliament through the 18th and 20th amendments.
At the time, the president of Pakistan was the co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which nominated caretaker governments and interim prime minister. Caretaker Punjab chief minister Najam Sethi was publicly praised by Imran Khan. No nominee of the PML-N was nominated as prime minister or provincial chief minister.
Sethi, who was not a PML-N member or nominee for the caretaker regime, was proposed by the PPP as interim chief minister. After assuming power, he transferred all provincial secretaries including the chief secretary, additional chief secretary and the inspector general of police, who had held key appointments in the outgoing PML-N government. He had appointed a number of officials, who were seen to be closely associated with former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi and the PPP.
Justice (R) Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim was proposed by PTI chairman and was thereafter duly appointed as the CEC.