Apologise or face treason trial under Article 6, Haleem Adil warns CEC

Sindh Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Haleem Adil Sheikh demanded on Sunday a public apology from Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja for what he termed the rigged elections. The PTI leader warned the CEC that if did not apologise to the nation, he should be ready to face a treason trial under the Article 6 of the Constitution.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi, Sheikh said incompetence of the CEC had come to the fore in the general elections. "He is a criminal of the nation. It is time to apologise, otherwise the Article 6 will be applied."

Continuing with his tirade, the PTI leader said that firstly, the CEC did not hold the elections in time and secondly, when he finally conducted the elections, they were not free and fair.

He alleged that Raja insulted the public mandate by manipulating the votes cast by them. Sheikh claimed that 80 seats won by the PTI were snatched from the party through rigging. He said Rawalpindi commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha had exposed how the polls were manipulated.

The PTI leader remarked that despite snatching the electoral symbol of bat and shutting down the internet on the polling day, the authorities could not stop the PTI from winning. He added that the party had won 20 of the 22 National Asssembly (NA) seats of Karachi.

"We won two out of three NA seats in Hyderabad, 40 provincial seats from Karachi. The people of these cities rejected the thieves of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan,” Sheikh asserted.

He alleged that rigging began after returning officers were changed overnight. The only way to save the country was to announce the election results as per the Form 45, the PTI leader said. He added that if anyone had secured the second highest number of votes in Karachi’s constituencies, it was the Jamaat-e-Islami. “There was no sign of the MQM-P. Hafiz Naeem has shown his greatness by leaving his seat”, he commented.

Sheikh said the Grand Democratic Alliance chief Pir Pagara had come out in the same way as his ancestor Surayah Badshah had come out in front of the British. He added that several other parties had also rejected the elections.

Sheikh said the PTI founding chairman Imran Khan had given clear instructions that there would be no talks with those who had snatched the PTI’s mandate. “We will welcome anyone who speaks against rigging. There will be no consultation with the Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and MQM-P.”

The PTI leader predicted that it was a matter of days before the PTI formed its government. “The institutions are ours, the police and government buildings are ours. The nation is with us. The judiciary is ours. However, some dirty people had infiltrated these ranks,” he added.