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JUI-F demands resignation of Sindh election commissioner over ‘worst poll rigging’

By Our Correspondent
February 16, 2024

Sindh Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl secretary general Maulana Rashid Mahmood Soomro said on Thursday that the JUI-F had decided to launch a nationwide movement against the results of the 2024 general elections.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) Secretary General Sindh, Rashid Mahmood Soomro addresses during the protest demonstration against alleged rigging in General Election 2024, outside Provincial Election Commission Office in Karachi on Thursday, February 15, 2024. — PPI
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) Secretary General Sindh, Rashid Mahmood Soomro addresses during the protest demonstration against alleged rigging in General Election 2024, outside Provincial Election Commission Office in Karachi on Thursday, February 15, 2024. — PPI 

He was addressing a protest sit-in against alleged rigging outside the office of the Provincial Election Commission (PEC) in Karachi. Soomro said, “The worst rigging has taken place in Sindh, where constituencies were delimited at the behest of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and returning officers (ROs) and deputy ROs were appointed at the behest of feudal lords.”

He said that a worst record of rigging had been set in the province, and election results were announced against Form 45 and ballot papers. He added that from Friday (today), the JUI-F workers would block highways at Ghotki, Kashmore and Sukkur, halting the movement at the Sindh-Punjab border for an indefinite period.

He claimed that the JUI-F’s mandate had been stolen in every election, because the international powers did not tolerate “the politics of religion and beard and cap in Pakistan”. He added, “Efforts are being made to gradually reduce our number in our houses.”

Soomro held the PEC responsible for the rigging, demanding resignation of the Sindh election commissioner. He said that the role of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had been controversial from day one, and constituencies were delimited according to the wishes of the PPP.

He said that the polling was deliberately kept slow on the day of the election, and later at night pre-stamped ballot papers were included in the counting. The JUI-F demanded that the results of NA-191 Kashmore, PS-02 Panu Aqil and PS-22 Thul be issued according to Form 45.

Other JUI-F leaders who spoke on the occasion included Maulana Abdul Karim Abid, Qari Muhammad Usman, Dr Naseeruddin Swati, Maulana Muhammad Ghayyas, Maulana Samiul Haq Swati, Maulana Noorul Haq, Maulana Zarin Shah, Habibullah Andhhar and Sharafuddin Andhhar.