Imran Khan to America on Pak elections
The White House has said that the wishes of the Pakistani people need to be respected.
Islamabad:
Jailed former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday sought US help with a special message to Washington saying it must play a role and expressed concern about his country’s “rigged” general elections.
It was a purported diplomatic cable – cipher – that Khan, 71, released in March 2022 claiming at a public rally that the US wanted to oust his government, soon after his political star took a downward spiral. , due to which he was put in jail. In many cases they were even debarred from contesting elections.
Mr Khan, who became prime minister in August 2018, was ousted through a no-confidence vote in April 2022. Currently, he is lodged in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail facing punishment in several cases including the cipher case.
Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has alleged that the February 8 general elections were “not fair” and “the results were rigged.” The results on 8 February resulted in a fractured mandate with no party getting a clear majority, resulting in Pakistan not being able to form a government even after a week of voting.
Even as more than 100 independent candidates backed by Mr Khan’s PTI won, the party has alleged that its mandate has been stolen. If those troubles were not enough, over the past three days, some independents have joined the alliance announced by PTI’s rival parties – Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party and four other smaller parties.
After a meeting of party leaders at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, where Mr Khan is lodged since September last year, PTI speaker Asad Qaiser told media persons that the party has named Omar Ayub Khan as its prime ministerial candidate.
However, it was a message Mr Khan gave to America that was the highlight of the press conference.
Qaiser said, “Mr Khan sent a message that America should raise its voice against alleged rigging in the elections. He also gave a special message regarding the US that America has not played its role accordingly.”
Claiming that Mr Khan’s message is that “America has an opportunity and should keep an eye on election rigging,” the PTI functionary said, “If he is a champion of democracy, if he is a champion of elections in Pakistan, If they think about it, they should raise their voice.” Were not fair.” According to Geo News, PTI’s lawyer Barrister Saif, who also addressed the media along with Gauhar Khan and Mr Qaiser, said: “The US should take a tough stance on these elections.”
“When PTI was cornered in the elections, America should have raised its voice,” Mr Saif quoted the party founder as saying.
Mr Khan has been accused of “misusing the contents of the cipher” and blamed that his government was ousted because of a foreign conspiracy masterminded by the US, a charge Washington denies. Secret diplomatic cable (ciphered) sent by the country’s embassy in Washington to the Foreign Office in Islamabad in March 2022.
Meanwhile, the White House on Wednesday called for ensuring a transparent election process in Pakistan and said the will of the Pakistani people needs to be respected.
Saying that US President Joe Biden is “aware of the elections in Pakistan,” White House press secretary Carine Jean-Pierre told reporters: “As we continue to make clear publicly and privately the Pakistani government and the entire Pakistani political spectrum, “There is a need to respect the will of the Pakistani people and ensure a transparent election process and that is clearly important.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)