PTI will not contest polls if CEC not removed: Imran Khan

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday refused to contest the next elections if incumbent CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja was not removed.

Addressing the party workers and parliamentary meeting of PTI MPAs from Punjab, Imran Khan said the nation would not remain silent if its mandate was hijacked. He warned the institutions that PTI would launch a struggle if it was deprived of its right to form the government in Punjab as per its mandate. Imran added that a person like Zardari, who had plundered Sindh mercilessly, was once again out to steal people’s mandate.

Imran Khan lauded women and families, who came out in large numbers to support the PTI. He said results were delayed in Muzaffargarh and Rawalpindi and such a thing could not have happened if the EVM system was in use.

In the parliamentary meeting, the PTI chairman paid tribute to party MPAs who denied all offers to sell their loyalties. He said the objective behind the PTI’s struggle was to make a Medina-like welfare state and said nations can only prosper if menace of corruption is eliminated.

Meanwhile, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi called on Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi at his residence. The meeting was also attended by Moonis Elahi, Hussain Elahi, Muhammad Basharat Raja and Zain Qureshi.

A detailed consultation on the strategy regarding the Punjab chief minister’s election and the government tactics were reviewed. Pervaiz Elahi said that the vindictive tactics of the federal and Punjab governments are condemnable. “Majority of the Punjab MPAs are with us and any attempt to undermine the people’s mandate will not be tolerated. What Hamza Shehbaz did under the wings of Shehbaz Sharif in a short period of time will be written in black words in history,” he said and added that the people trusted Imran Khan in the by-election and the Punjab Assembly will also trust Imran Khan in the chief minister election.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the PTI’s nominated candidate Ch Pervaiz Elahi will be the Punjab chief minister. PTI and PMLQ have the majority in the Punjab Assembly. In the by-elections, the public fully accepted Imran Khan’s narrative and served as a lesson to the deviant members.

Earlier, Imran Khan said ‘kings of crime’ Asif Ali Zardari and Shehbaz Sharif were using their ‘salvaged’ looted money to purchase the Punjab MPAs, making a mockery of the law and desecrating the Constitution.

In a series of tweets, he alleged that the imported government, which was brought in through a US regime change conspiracy, first tried to rig the Punjab by-elections through state machinery abetted by ‘dishonest and biased’ Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, heading a non-credible ECP. However, he said a highly aware and resolute public stood firm, ensuring failure of their nefarious design. He said that now the ‘kings of crime’, Zardari and Shehbaz, having got the ‘NRO-2’, were using their looted money to purchase the Punjab MPAs.

“I am asking the people of Pakistan that just as they came out and thwarted the plan to steal the Punjab by-elections on July 17, they must now protect their mandate by coming out to stage protests across the country,” he said and added, “I will address the protests. Let Sri Lanka be a reminder as a clear message goes to cabal of crooks, their handlers and the ECP that people will not allow you to steal their mandate in Punjab.”