PTI calls for Gilani’s disqualification over son’s ‘video’

ISLAMABAD: A video surfaced on social media on Tuesday depicting Senate candidate Yousuf Raza Gilani’s son, Ali Haider, allegedly speaking with a purported lawmaker about methods to waste his Senate vote, sparking demands from the ruling PTI to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to disqualify the former prime minister from the race.

According to Geo News, it is unclear who the person Ali Haider is speaking to in the video. In a press conference, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill urged the ECP to take notice against Yousuf Raza Gilani.

“This video of corruption has once again proven that Imran Khan was right when he said this mafia will never let a transparent Senate election take place,” he said. PTI’s Fawad Chaudhry also called for Gilani’s disqualification outside the ECP’s offices.

Ali Haider Gilani responded to the allegations in a news conference later, saying that he had met a lot of people whilst campaigning for his father. “All the NA members are our constituents,” he said. “All of them are honourable for us,” he said.

Gilani said he had met the PTI lawmakers to secure a vote for his father, adding that it was his right. “Not once. I will meet them a hundred times as it is my right,” he said. “For every election, we have been involved in seeking the ‘votes of conscience’. We don’t believe in buying or selling votes,” he added.

He said he was asking for the vote of “love and conscience” from the PTI MPAs, adding that many members wanted to vote for his father instead of Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, who is competing against his father for the general seat in Islamabad.

Separately, the elder Gilani himself responded to the video and asked why the ruling PTI “does not trust its own members”. He said if they are objecting to the members meeting his son, the party should rein in their own members. “Don’t talk about us. It is our right to ask for votes. I have even written to Imran Khan Sahib vote for us. If he doesn’t give us his vote, that’s his business,” he added.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who was standing with Yousuf Raza Gilani, said the Pakistan Democratic Movement “has already won”. “Whatever happens tomorrow will be a bonus.” Speaking about the allegations of gerrymandering, he said the PTI has not even be resolving the issues of its own members. “We have succeeded in making the government worry about its members,” he said.

About the video, he said: “I want to make it clear and stress that PPP is fighting this election for democracy. And we are fighting this election with our politics and our contacts. And the manner in which these (PTI) are trying to [give the impression] that there is money being used, is attacking the opposition’s character.

“If money is being used, it is the government that is using money, it is the state that is using money. The money of the people is being used. The money of the state is being used. Their members of assembly have on record admitted on television that 500 million rupees has been promised to each MNA. Imran Khan is using the state’s money to bribe his own members.

“And our efforts are focused on convincing people to vote with their conscience. And thank God, we are succeeding in this endeavour, and Imran Khan’s corrupt efforts are faltering.”