Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha resigned from his post on Saturday, admitting that elections in his division were rigged. Speaking at a press conference at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Chattha revealed that he had attempted suicide earlier in the day due to overwhelming guilt, and later turned himself into the police, taking responsibility for the incident. The Commissioner expressed remorse for forcing his subordinates to engage in wrongdoing and admitted that winning candidates were made to lose 13 seats in the Rawalpindi division. The commissioner accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja of being complicit in the rigging and asserted that he, along with the CEC and Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, deserved punishment, even the death penalty, for their injustice.
Commissioner Rawalpindi Mr. Liaqat Ali Chattha has opened up a new Pandora box through revelation about his involvement in alleged rigging during the recent polls in the Rawalpindi division. The commissioner admitted his guilt and illegal conduct during the polls for pressurizing Returning Officers (ROs) to manipulate the electoral results and turn the victory of the winning candidates into defeat and vice versa. According to him, the rigging took place in the election and candidates who were leading in their constituencies with over 70,000 votes were converted to losers with the help of fake seals under his watch. A week after the election, the Commissioner told the media that he experienced sleepless nights due to the betrayal of trust toward the people and the country.
The revelation and admission of guilt by the Rawalpindi commissioner are important which further spoiled the political situation and deepened the frustration already prevailing in the society over alleged allegations of rigging and manipulation of electoral results. There are wide-ranging doubts, suspicions, and questions regarding Liaquat Chattha’s press conference, his constitutional role and level of involvement in the recent polls, true motives behind making the story public and holding a news conference on holiday at the Cricket stadium instead of the press club, his home or office. The Commissioner neither provided any evidence supporting his allegations nor mentioned the name of the individual who compelled him to undertake that unlawful business. Similarly, he did not provide the details on the role of ROs, the number of constituencies or polling stations where rigging took place, and the names of the candidates who were unlawfully favored through rigging under his supervision.
Historically, the Pakistani bureaucracy and the national institutions are across-the-board politicized and divided on political lines, while every other bureaucrat, police officer, judge, or general supports a political group are seeks backing from a politician to grab lucrative positions in his career or avail promotion, deportation or posting abroad. Whilst those government servants had always been ready to comply with unlawful orders of the senior hierarchy or fulfill the illegal demands of the political bosses that duly violated their oaths and service/ professional codes. Interestingly, the bureaucrat admitted his offense and demanded the prosecution of the Chief Election Commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, and Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the latter has no direct connection with the recent polls altogether. Hence, the Commissioner’s story seems to be more influenced by the ongoing campaign and political narrative on alleged poll rigging in the country instead of the specific rigging incident that allegedly took place in the Rawalpindi division.
Henceforth, the nation is not surprised by the revelations of Commissioner Rawalpindi, however, if his conscious has now awakened he must bring all shreds of evidence to the public in full detail to endorse his claim. Meanwhile, the caretaker government must order an inquiry commission to probe into the Liaquat Chattha revelation, ascertain the truth, and bring it to the nation along with taking all legislative, and regulatory measures to fill in the flaws in the system if any, and take all possible steps to make electoral process transparent, credible and less susceptible. If the Bureaucrat’s allegations are found to be groundless then the individual must face stern punishment, so no one ever dares to dodge the nation or play with sensitive national issues in the future.
