PTI asks EU to publish its report on polls

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Central Information Secretary Raoof Hasan on Monday demanded the European Union (EU) polls observer mission make public its fact-based report outlining serious irregularities in the election process, which was handed over to the government recently.

Addressing a press conference flanked by PTI Senator Walid Iqbal and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Adviser on Finance Muzzammil Aslam, he said it was imperative for the democratic world to learn how the election process was “systematically impacted”.

“I call upon the EU to publish this report in its unaltered form to strengthen the fight for genuine democracy and reinforcement of human rights policies in Pakistan,” he added.

Senator Walid Iqbal said that there should be no tax without representation as the “mandate thieves were imposed on the nation, having no right to take decisions independently”.

He demanded accountability of those responsible for “polls fraud”.

He said that EU and US Congress showed them mirror this time around by exposing “glaring irregularities and massive polls fraud”, demanding that the EU should public its report so as to unmask the truth regarding the polls robbery and to ensure transparency in elections.

Speaking on the occasion, the KP CM advisor sounded the alarm of tsunami of inflation, asking the government to take on board the provinces to negotiate a better deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Pakistani authorities and IMF team, he noted, successfully reached a staff-level agreement on the second and final review under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), which was subject to the approval of the IMF’s Executive Board. However, he expressed his surprise that despite lapse of several days, the IMF’s Executive Board meeting was yet to be held and the financial body might delay its board meeting until release of Pakistan’s economic indicators.

A slight change in the composition of NFC award, he warned, would disturb and shake up the entire financial system of the provinces since they get a lion’s shares from the Centre.

Muzzammil accepted that Pakistan’s prevailing economic woes warranted a new IMF programme, which the PTI would support, but the government should not take a solo flight to hammer out a deal to further plunge the country deep into the quagmire.

Lashing out at Information Minister Attaullah Tarar for accusing PTI of writing letter to the EU to revoke Pakistan’s GSP plus status, the KP CM aide said that he was acting more like PMLN cell’s information minister instead of federal information minister.