PTI chairman Imran Khan on Monday issued a call for a fresh protest outside the Election Commission of Pakistan office in Islamabad on Thursday (August 4) to demand Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja’s resignation.
Addressing his party members at PTI’s national council meeting in Islamabad, Imran said that the assemblies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab had passed resolutions against the CEC, stating that they had lost confidence in him.
“The commission should under no circumstances conduct the next general elections,” he asserted.
At the beginning of his speech, the PTI chief recalled that during his tenure, the government tried its best to introduce Electronic Voting Machines to ensure “free and transparent elections”. “But the CEC sabotaged our hard work to secure the system of rigging for two parties (PPP and PML-N).” He said that during the recently-held Punjab by-polls, PTI’s biggest concern was rigging but “despite multiple attempts, it emerged victorious”.
Imran also claimed that the government had lost its credibility — both nationally and internationally. “It has fallen to an extent that the army chief has to now request for the IMF (International Monetary Fund) loan. Can you imagine?”
Imran said that time had exposed the reality and “incompetence” of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to the people who once thought he was a “smart man”.
“It is clear now that these people never thought about the economy or the future of the country,” he said. “They never came with a plan or a roadmap to stabilise it. All they wanted was an NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance).
