PESHAWAR: An All Parties Conference (APC) held in Peshawar agreed to stage countrywide protests from August 9 against alleged ballot rigging in the last month’s general elections. It also agreed to give a tough time to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government both inside and outside parliament.
The move is in line with the central conference decision taken last week in Islamabad. The participants of the APC agreed to continue demonstrations till further consultation.
Delegations of various political parties attended the meeting. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was led by Haji Sifghat, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) by its Peshawar chief Sabir Awan, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl by Maulana Khairul Bashar while Malik Ghulam Mustafa represented the Awami National Party.
“The Election Commission of Pakistan favoured PTI through an engineered process, awarding it a clear victory,” the parties claimed, adding that withholding Form 45 raised suspicions over the polls’ transparency.
After facing defeat in the July 25 elections, so far the JI has expelled as many as 20 party members for irregularities and misconduct in the polls. In this regard, they have been sent notices from JI provincial headquarters in Peshawar, according to a press release.
Talking to The media, JI K-P Secretary General Abdul Wasigh said, “District level committees have been formed to determine those members who contested against our own candidates as independents, which is in violation of party policy.”
He further informed that in the first phase of accountability, members from Peshawar and Dir were expelled and their viewpoint would be heard if “they have reservations over the party’s action”.
“We have expelled some 20 members from the party with immediate effect after gross violation of the party’s code of conduct,” said Wasigh, adding that more members could face similar action if found guilty.
Those who were expelled from the party over disciplinary matters are; Ajmal Khan, Muhammad Karim, Noor Muhammad, Qazi Azizul Haq, Nisar Ahmed, Muhammad Ghulam, Abdul Kabir Khan and Fazal Rahim of Dir district, while those from Peshawar include; Israrullah Advocate, Fazalullah Dawoodzai, Latifullah, Muhammad Noman, Muhammad Iqbal, Atif Hussain, Sher Zaman, Haroon Luqman, Sohail Khan, Shaukat Sadozai, Dr Fayyaz Khan and Niaz Muhammad.
