ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) held nationwide demonstrations outside the offices of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), condemning the “partisan” conduct of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja and demanding his resignation.
Since his appointment to the office in January 2020, Raja — who is the son-in-law of Saeed Mehdi, former principal secretary to Khan’s disgraced predecessor Nawaz Sharif — has been at the helm of a series of decisions against the PTI, the party insists.
On Saturday, in his first press conference after leaving office, former prime minister Imran Khan said his party did not trust Raja because all his decisions were against the PTI.
Responding to the presser, Raja said he had “no intention of tendering my resignation,” before adding that there was no valid reason to “think like that”.
“I am working in the best interest of the country and shall continue to do so.”
According to videos aired by news channels, party workers staged demonstrations outside the ECP offices across the country. The authorities had also deployed additional troops in different cities to ensure the security of ECP buildings and staff.
In Karachi, police were deployed outside the ECP office ahead of the protest and three mobile vans were also present at the site as part of security arrangements.
According to a statement issued by PTI spokesperson Saddam Kumbhar, Sindh Assembly Opposition Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh and party leaders, including Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Bilal Ghaffar, Aftab Siddiqui, Raja Azhar and Saifur Rehman, were among the demonstrators.
Whereas in Peshawar, chaos was witnessed outside the agency’s office as protestors attempted to barge into the building. They were stopped by police deployed outside the gates.
PTI lawmakers from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, including Zahir Shah and Abdul Salam, were among the protesters, who raised slogans against the CEC, calling him biased.
Meanwhile, in Islamabad, former interior minister Sheikh Rashid and PTI MP Shibli Faraz spoke to the media during the protest outside the ECP office.
Amid loud slogans by the demonstrators, Faraz said while his party was staging a “symbolic protest” and added that thousands of party members were unable to reach the site of the demonstration as “routes have been blocked”.
The Red Zone was sealed by placing containers after the agency wrote a letter to the Interior Ministry seeking security ahead of the protests.
پر امن احتجاج ہمارا جمہوری حق ہے لیکن جس طریقہ سے کنٹینرز لگا کر راستے بند کئیے گے اس سے لگتا ہےموجودہ امپورٹڈ حکومت کی کانپیں ٹانگ رہی ہے اور پچھلے سال اسی الیکش کمیشن کے باہر PDM نے احتجاج کیا تھا تو ہم نے اجازت اور سیکورٹی سمیت تمام سہولتیں فراہم کی تھی۔#امپورٹڈ_حکومت_نامنظور pic.twitter.com/S4Mlr5mk5e
— Farrukh Habib (@FarrukhHabibISF) April 26, 2022
Islamabad police chief met the officials of the commission to discuss the security arrangements.
The ECP asked the police chief to make foolproof security arrangements in view of the protest. According to the police, the entrance to the neighbourhood was blocked.
