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Thursday March 28, 2024

Fazl demands re-election in NA-45 Kurram

By Yousaf Ali
February 26, 2021

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman on Thursday rejected the outcome of the by-elections in the National Assembly constituencies NA-45 Kurram and NA-75 Daska and demanded the Election Commission of Pakistan to cancel these polls and hold them afresh. “Massive rigging was made during the by-elections in both the constituencies. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate, who was in the third position in Kurram was brought to the first number,” the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief told a hurriedly called press conference here.

About 600 fake votes were polled in Kurram tribal district, he said, adding the Election Commission had withheld the result, but it should cancel the polls and announce fresh elections in the constituency.

Regarding Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) support to the JUI-F candidate in NA-45 Kurram and Awami National Party’s (ANP) decision to field its nominee in PK-63 Nowshera against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) contestant, the PDM chief said that they were thankful to PPP for its support to his party in Kurram.

In Nowshera, he said, the ANP must have its own reasons for contesting the polls. “But they would definitely say that since PDM was not an electoral alliance, they had the right to contest the by-election,” the Maulana added.

The JUI-F chief said that though PDM was not an electoral alliance, the possibility of converting it into one and fielding joint candidates cannot be ruled out.

He maintained that the component parties of the 11-party alliance were busy in negotiations on the issue of Senate elections. “The steering committee meeting of the component parties would be held today. We would cooperate with each other in the Senate elections and win the maximum number of seats,” he added.

About balloting – secret or open – for the Senate, Maulana Fazlur Rahman said that the Supreme Court had observed that the Constitution was silent over the matter. “So, whenever the Constitution is silent over an issue, it is referred to the parliament, which is the right forum to make an interpretation or take a decision. Therefore, the Supreme Court should not become a party and refer the matter to the Parliament,” he stressed.

He came down hard on the PTI government, saying that there was no government at all in the country. “The prices of daily use items were out of control. The government has lost its writ. The life of a common man has become miserable,” he opined.

He said that they neither accept the 2018 general elections as an election nor the current government as a legitimate government. “Fresh elections should be held in a transparent manner so that a legitimate government could be formed and the country could be brought out of the crisis,” he maintained.

He also spoke about the conflict between the two tribes in North Waziristan, adding, the government had badly failed to provide protection to the people. He said his party would convene a grand jirga to find out a solution to the tribal dispute.

He said that the merger of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has pushed the tribal areas to the worst crisis. “They tribal people have been deprived of their old system and the new system is yet to be implemented there. They are hanging in the balance and are neither here nor there,” he argued.