This remarkable development started in Lahore, Faisalabad, Islamabad, and Karachi for Pakistan and London and Canada for the overseas Pakistanis simultaneously by PTI supporters. It left many baffled on why these people were not ready to accept defeat for the results that emerged. One needs to understand; it is not about defeat, it is about honesty and truth being heard, it is about the integrity of an institution that took responsibility of delivering free and fair elections. It is about people’s choice.
Mian Nawaz Sharif and his party have won the elections, many congratulations and sincere wishes to him that he becomes a just ruler to the people of Pakistan and can tackle the grave issues which the country faces. But many of his party members feel Sit-in’s or Dharna’s are a waste of time, that PTI should accept their defeat, that they are ruining their celebrations and that they should let normal course of Government making take place. One can’t blame them to think this way, not their fault, in one way; it is their short sightedness and zero experience in dealing with a public like PTI supporters.
In the past elections, Muslim League Nawaz in Punjab and MQM in the Karachi have dealt with populations who were bound to vote for them. In some case or the other, these parties made sure that the turn-out of people comes only in their favor by hook or by crook. In May 2013 election, the past history did not repeat. In fact this time, the turn-out of voters reached to a staggering 62% a figure which was never witnessed in the history of Pakistan. These were those silent majorities who had never come out for the ballots. These were those people who were first time voters, women, newly turned 18’s and old people who had lost hope in any change to ever happen. Most of them had taken days off from work, taken flights from overseas and specially come to Pakistan to cast their votes. These people had been motivated by a Phrase called “Naya Pakistan” which brought hordes of them out to get what they felt.
These sit-in are being done by middle, upper and elite class who are the movers and shakers of Pakistani society. They include Doctors, Engineers, Writers, Actors, Journalists, Social activists, teachers, the fashion industry etc. People who have been part of massive campaigns in the country in terms of environment pollution, marathon walks, charity, hospital making, who are CEO’s of cooperate sector, or who have been related to one awareness program or another. They have been such since two to three generations. These people are educated, highly professional, who know the importance of their ID card and Passport. Just like they keep both the documents up to date, and secure similar is the way they feel responsible, give importance to the value of vote. Such section of society, who stand up for their rights on daily basis, would never give up on the rigging issue that has surfaced where they feel they have been blatantly cheated.
The polling day had several stories which were told verbally by people to each, later that night of 11th May, video evidences recorded by female and male voters started to emerge on Facebook, Twitter and other Social Media sites. Pakistani media also showed several in their news bulletins. Amazingly; the first polling result was announced on television few minutes past 5pm whereas the closing time for ballots was 6pm. Results were announced by private channels, at 8:30pm a contestant who was taking a lead of 41000 + votes had lost by the next morning. Was it magic or was it tampered, that is what brought the people out.
With many claims of Election Commission of Pakistan of holding free and fair elections, the public that turned to these sit-ins refused to accept the results that were being confirmed by the given authority. These massive crowds have house wives, female students, elderly, pensioners, male students, and professional people. They are a segment of society; that has never done this before in the country’s history. Their demands are: Either the counting of votes should be done again or a re-election of their constituencies is done so that truth prevails. The questionable constituencies with doctored results are: NA-57, NA-81, NA-85, NA-86, NA-93, NA-118, NA-120, NA-122, NA-125, NA-127, NA-128, NA-135, NA-168, NA-170, NA-190 and PP-7, PP-68, PP-160, PP-281. According to Ejaz Chaudhry PTI Punjab President, “rigging complaints were received from all the 297 constituencies, where police and polling station staff favored PML-N. “Our winning candidates have not only defeated their opponents but also the rigging practices,” he claimed.
According to media reports; Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman, Imran Khan demanded recounting of votes with fingerprint verification on four constituencies conducted by NADRA. In his recorded message Khan said if the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) failed to accept their demands within three days, protests would be held. “We are giving a three day deadline to the ECP to conduct fingerprint based recounting on four sample seats. If proven correct we allege rigging on 25 seats,” Khan said.
On one hand a new Government needs to take over, alliances to be made on provincial levels, a smooth transition of power from the caretakers to the elected. On the other hand there is this issue of rigging and sit-ins which have become a burning issue on daily basis. What needs to be seriously thought is; prior to the elections the ECP said that the ballot papers were being printed under the supervision of Army and were distributed by the army as well. So how come they were printed in excess of voting numbers? Where were bogus vote copies acquired from? In excess of the numbers of vote of a specific area how come ballot papers entered into the ballot boxes? These ballot boxes were shifted under the supervision of army to different areas, What happened after that magic or what? People of Pakistan surely wonder; is this election result related to Afghan war/CIA/ Establishment in Pakistan? How come the judiciary is so quiet? When previously they used to take suo-moto on two wine bottles?
Jayein tau Jayein Kahan? On the roads, Sit-ins!
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