- “Credible elections are important for the country,” says Dar.
- The PML-N senator says the party was “not given equal opportunities.”
- PTI, PPP say PML-N is being given preference.
Former ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), facing allegations of preferential treatment by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Party, claimed it was denied a level playing field. past.
Addressing the Senate session on Friday, House leader Ishaq Dar said: “We were not given level playing field.” He said the PML-N had released a “white paper” on large-scale rigging during the 2018 elections.
Dar said there should be a level playing field for all and stressed that credible elections are important for the country. He said that then we should also show generosity in accepting the election results with an open heart.
The former Finance Minister stressed the importance of free, fair and transparent elections to take the country forward.
“The Constitution says elections must be held within 90 days [after the dissolution of an assembly] But [we] Other sections of the Constitution should also be considered.”
The PML-N leader said the demand for holding elections within 90 days after approval of the census was “unconstitutional”.
Last month, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, while addressing a public rally in Muzaffargarh, took a dig at the PML-N, saying that it was “really a strange thing that a certain party has given the election date”.
On September 19, Bilawal had strongly criticized the PML-N for denying a level playing field. He said his concerns regarding level playing field are particularly specific to one political party, which is the PML-N.
As the general elections approached, the rift between the former allies grew and the PPP continued to raise concerns about the lack of a level playing field to prove itself before the elections.
PTI, on the other hand, was complaining that it was not being given equal opportunities to campaign – as many of its workers and leaders, including Imran Khan, were behind bars.
The situation also changed when the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and President Arif Alvi agreed a day earlier that general elections would be held in the country on February 8, 2024.
With the parties busy in election campaigning, PPP and PTI believe that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif is also being given preference.
Nawaz Sharif – who moved to London in November 2019 for medical treatment after Lahore High Court approval – returned to Pakistan on October 21, ending four years of self-imposed exile.
Since the return of the former prime minister, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has reinstated his petitions against the conviction verdicts of the accountability courts in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia cases.
Lamenting the reprieve given to the PML-N leader, the jailed PTI chief said: “The only way to allow a convicted criminal to return to politics with a clean chit is to destroy state institutions. And so, what we are seeing is a complete collapse of our justice system.”
He criticized the “complete collapse of our justice system” and termed the PML-N supremo’s return to the country as an implementation of the London “agreement”.
