Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Monday defended the delay in election results, noting that mobile services were disrupted due to security threats which caused delay in gathering of results.
“We could afford delay, but terrorist attacks, we could not […] delay does not mean rigging,” Kakar, whose government was appointed to oversee the country through elections until an elected set-up takes charge, said during a post-election press conference.
Kakar voiced his surprise over the allegations pertaining to rigging during elections 2024 despite PTI founder Imran Khan’s loyalists being in lead.
The premier stressed that allegations of rigging were generated through social media which were based upon “misconceptions and contrary to the ground realities”, noting that throughout the democratic history, people had always questioned the electoral process.
PM Kakar reiterated that the interim setup had provided level playing field to all political parties during the elections 2024 and being ‘free and fair’ process, a large number of independent candidates backed by PTI emerged as the largest single group on the national and provincial assemblies seats. “Such results indicated the transparency and non -interference by any quarters”, the caretaker prime minister emphasised.
Kakar, recalling instances of election results’ delays in Sweden and Indonesia, wondered whether their polls were “rigged”. “We are a country of 240 million with 92,000 polling stations […] this entire process had to consume some time, which should and can be explained.”
The prime minister informed the journalists that in 2018, the entire result-gathering process took 66 hours; however, in 2024, it was completed in 36 hours.
Moving on to the allegations of foreign governments, who deplored the disruption in connectivity and the events that transpired in the lead-up to electrons, Kakar said they would be probed if need be.
“These friendly countries, unfortunately, frame their initial assessment on the fabricated and fractured information available on social media and the digital space.”
“A responsible government should take time and then have a position; that would have been better. If we have to investigate, we will not do it on the demand of the United States, United Kingdom, or the EU.”
Kakar noted that Pakistan has its law and will deal with it accordingly. “We did not ask a judicial inquiry on Capitol Hill riots. It is not for us to demand it and it is not for them. For me, the demand of a PTI individual than the US, UK, and EU combined.”
The premier noted that these nations have their own issues in elections, but that’s not for Pakistan to comment on, and neither should these countries issue statements on Islamabad’s domestic affairs.
