Imran skips Senate elections

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, who had recently earned ire of leading political parties for cursing parliament, on Saturday preferred to chair a party meeting over taking part in voting in the Senate elections.

“I think Imran Khan has some other engagements, he may not come (to cast his vote),” said senior party leader MNA Shafqat Mehmood when asked if there was anything more important for him than the Senate elections.

Interestingly, after nominating Awami Muslim League leader Sh Rashid Ahmad for the slot of prime minister against PML-N nominee Shahid Khaqan Abbasi last year, following disqualification of premier Nawaz Sharif by the Supreme Court, Imran had skipped voting for him. About reports of alleged horse trading in the Senate elections, Shafqat Mehmood said it was very sad that such reports had appeared in the electronic and print media, though they had so far no tangible evidence. That was why, he recalled, his party had suggested to the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms to opt for direct Senate elections, which indeed would have very large constituencies, but this was the only way of true representation of the people.

He lamented that presently the system was such that wealthy people would jump into the Senate election arena by using money.

Instead of visiting the Parliament House to cast his vote in support of the party candidates, Imran, who was in the federal capital, chaired a party meeting and called on the Supreme Court to constitute a joint investigation team on the pattern of Panama case with regard to the Multan Metro project and missing of Faisal Subhan.

The meeting maintained that in the presence of characters like Zafar Hijazi, the matter could not be left to the SECP or the government. The forum demanded making public details of corruption in Multan, Lahore and Islamabad Metro projects and Orange Line train project and missing of Faisal Subhan.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s recent statement on investigation into Multan Metro project was welcomed by the PTI meeting, however, it called for carrying out an independent audit of other such projects.

The PTI chairman emphasised that for the credibility of the Parliament House, the mode of elections of the Senate should be changed and instead of indirect voting, the senators should be elected through direct voting. And, in this connection, the party had already floated a proposal.

Imran said that he would kick off the election campaign from Lahore by holding a huge public meeting and that before the formal election campaign, he would visit various districts of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He asserted that time had come for the ultimate battle against corruption and lawlessness.