The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf told the National Assembly on Monday that it never expected that the government would be wrapped up as a result of the report of poll inquiry commission. It was the first time for a senior PTI leader to admit that his party knew that the commission would not invalidate the results of 2013 general elections. PTI’s deputy parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Shah Mehmood Qureshi said: “Let me say on oath that PTI’s only objective behind the setting up of the judicial commission was to highlight chronic operational flaws of the Election Commission of Pakistan, and not to derail democracy.” He was responding to objections raised by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar about PTI’s failure to accept the findings of the commission in its entirety. Opening the debate, Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah welcomed the fact that both the PTI and PML-N had accepted the commission’s findings. There has been a grudging acceptance of the report by Imran Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, coupled with a demand that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif apologise to the nation for the delay in setting up the inquiry. As Mr Khan is unlikely to apologise for the 126-day disruption he caused then, so is the prime minister unlikely to apologise for his actions either, and it is time for everybody in the political bear pit to move on. The judicial commission (JC) was perhaps stretching credulity somewhat when it said that “in large part (the elections) were organised and conducted fairly and in accordance with the law”. Be that as it may, in any number of thoroughly documented instances they were not, and that has to be a matter of concern. For many millions denied the vote, these were anything but free and fair elections, even if the rigging that happened might not have occurred as part of an organised conspiracy.Despite the commission’s clear verdict that the party has failed to prove the three charges it had levelled in its plea against 2013 elections, Khan maintains the court has conceded his stand regarding rigging. This is pure jugglery. There was never any doubt that rigging might have taken place in some constituencies. What the PTI maintained, and the commission rejected, was that there was systematic rigging with an aim to keep PTI out of power. Equally ludicrous is the demand that Nawaz Sharif rather than Imran Khan should apologise for the sit-ins. This shows the PTI chief is still unwilling to concede that he can be wrong. The PTI’s agitation spread over 126 days has weakened the system and caused the civil-military balance to tilt in favour of the latter, belying the expectations roused by peaceful transfer of power after 2013 elections. The PTI needs to compensate for this by repressing its tendency to take recourse to street agitation instead of taking issues to parliament. Only thus can it hope to retrieve some of the ground it has lost. The inquiry commission’s report has raised questions about the ECP’s ability to hold transparent elections. It is time its four members realised its implications and resigned rather than be accused for mishandling the forthcoming local government polls in Punjab and Sindh. The prime minister has announced that he has directed senior officials to draw up an agenda of electoral reform. This is to be presented to parliament within two months. There is said to have already been considerable work done in this respect, and it is to be hoped that real reform does flow from a political imbroglio that nobody emerges from with much credit. As observed previously in these columns, the failures identified by the JC were as much of people as of processes, a fact we trust those charged with writing the reforms duly note.
pk.shafaqna.com
Commission validation: Would PTI apologize for Sit-ins?
