‘No one would dare to support secret ballot’ in respectable society: PM

HAZRO: Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the attempts by the opposition to sweep away the Pakistan Tehreek-e-lnsaf (PTI) members was their latest endeavour to secure seats in the Senate, adding that “no one would dare to support secret ballot when it is a known fact that bribes are given in the Senate elections”.

Addressing a ceremony for the launch of a tree plantation campaign near the Ghazi Barotha dam, the premier said the opposition’s stance against the open was due to their intentions on “buying” PTI voters.

He said that a market has been set up, with fixed rates for the buying and selling of votes, adding that the secret ballot had destroyed the morals of the society. “This has gone on for 30 years; not all [politicians] get sold but many do,” he said.

The prime minister recalled that in 2018, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) despite having only six members in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly secured two Senate seats. “What kind of democracy is it?”

“They created such an impression that corruption is not a bad thing,” he remarked and questioned can anybody cite an example of a country that achieved progress and development in the atmosphere of corruption.

The premier stressed that the country was at a decisive juncture wherein it would finally rid itself of these “dacoits” and secure a “victory for Pakistan”.

He noted that there was a time when the opposition parties advocated for an open ballot in the Senate elections but were today calling for the use of a secret ballot. He said that the reason for their change of stance was due to the repeated failures of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

“First their [power show] at Minar-e-Pakistan flopped, then they failed to blackmail us over FATF legislation, then they were thinking the government would fall due to corona but Allah blessed us; now they are planning to somehow bring more of their senators by through buying our people,” he said.

He said that a senator that is elected through money would never serve the people, rather, he would “suck the nation’s blood”.

The federal government has also sought the Supreme Court’s (SC) opinion on whether the Senate elections could be held through open ballot by amending the Election Act 2017 that requires simple legislation.

To this effect, a five-member larger bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed, while hearing the presidential reference on Senate open balloting on Friday, said that representation of every political party in the elections must be proportional to its votes.

Continuing his attack against the opposition, PM Imran said: “They don’t have a single piece of paper to tell us how this money went out [of Pakistan].”

“A country is destroyed when its prime minister and ministers start committing corruption,” he added, stressing that when a leader stole state funds while in office, they also had to launder them abroad to avoid being caught.

“When I see Ishaq Dar and Nawaz Sharif riding a Roll Royce in London, it appears that they were not born in Gwalmandi but in London,” Imran Khan remarked.

He said that such actions caused a country to become desperate and reliant on loans and foreign aid. “A country which takes loans and asks for aid from other countries is never respected in the world,” he stressed.

Regarding the tree plantation ceremony, the premier said that this was a must to protect future generations, as Pakistan was among the ten countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

He linked the development of 10 cricket grounds along the water channel in the area with the youth’s involvement in the protection of plants, adding that tree plantation was the only solution to overcome the growing heat due to the emission of greenhouse gases.

The prime minister regretted that instead of enhancing the forest cover during the last 70 years, the existing forests in Changa Manga, Kundian and Chichawatni vanished under the previous regimes due to massive deforestation.

He said that Lahore was facing immense smog, resulting in a 70 per cent reduction of green cover, which was highly dangerous for children and elders.

The threat would increase unless the nation collectively decided to reverse the wrongdoings of the past, he added.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam, State Minister for Climate Change Zartaj Gul, Special Assistant to PM Shahbaz Gill and Senator Faisal Javed were also present besides a large number of youths and notables from the area.

Meanwhile, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Railways Mian Farrukh Habib earlier in the day criticised the opposition for opposing open ballot in the Senate elections due to fear of defeat.

Talking to a private news channel, he said that the PTI government would not compromise with elements who sold their votes for monetary gains during the elections in the upper house of the parliament.

Habib said that transparency in elections would strengthen the democracy, which was why the incumbent government was stressing open ballot in the Senate elections so that it could get rid of the horse-trading once for all.

He said that, instead of supporting the government’s move for electoral reforms, the opposition was creating hurdles for an open ballot in the Senate elections, which was tantamount to encouraging the illegal practices.

He regretted that the opposition parties, especially Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), promoted the politics of horse-trading in the country.

He stressed that the opposition should remember that Prime Minister Imran would not furnish any national reconciliation ordinance to looters and plunderers.

Parliamentary Secretary Habib further maintained the government was committed with its principled stand of ensuring transparency in the Senate elections, irrespective of approval or rejection of the amendment in the house.

He said that the government was not afraid of the opposition’s long march or any other protest and expressed the hope that the PTI would get a thumping majority in the upcoming Senate elections.

Similarly, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz Friday said that Prime Minister Imran was committed to ending the role of money in the election process.

Talking to the media, he said that the government was striving to bring genuine representatives of the people into the parliament, adding that this was not possible without abrogating the role of money in the sale and purchase of votes.

The minister maintained the people have now realized the importance of transparency in the Senate elections. He added that the politics of money needed to be eliminated and candidates should be elected on the basis of their capabilities.

Faraz maintained that the buying and selling of votes undermined democracy and moral values.

He said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would also be strengthened to further enhance its performance. PTI believed that eligible persons could not come forward in politics until misuse of money was controlled, he added.

He said that the PTI’s desire and demand was that under proportional representation, the parties and alliances should get seats as per their strength in the electoral assemblies.

Faraz said that the PTI’s stance was justified and based on democratic principles and even Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had also hinted his inclination towards open voting.

The minister said that the opposition was trying to confuse the people through its plan of a no-confidence motion against the Senate chairman, while the truth was that the PDM had an issue with the internal rules of the house.

Referring to the Charter of Democracy, he stressed that the opposition parties had agreed to amend the Constitution for an open ballot system in the Senate elections but they failed to do so despite ruling the country for ten years.

Faraz said that the PTI had a clear majority in KP and Punjab, adding that the ruling party also enjoyed the advantage of greater resources, but it was surrendering these advantages in the larger interest of the democratic system.

He said that the PTI was the only party that expelled its members of the provincial assembly who violated the party discipline and voted for other candidates.