ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday tabled a motion in the National Assembly for the constitution of Inquiry Commission into alleged rigging in 2018 general elections.
While expressing his views in the House during the Session Chaired by the Speaker Asad Qaiser, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said they didn’t want to keep anything hidden. The minister said the opposition had a right to protest, and registered their objections.
Qureshi said despite differences they had to move forward, adding they believed in transparency. He said for the transparency of elections they were ready to put everything in front of the public.
The foreign minister said after general elections, the opposition demanded the formation of a Parliamentary Commission.
“We decided to constitute a committee on opposition’s demand,” he said.
The minister said in the past, the governments used to chair the Special Committee but this Parliamentary Committee would be empowered to probe alleged rigging in elections.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the Parliamentary Committee would devise terms of reference (TORs) to investigate alleged election rigging.
The Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said on the floor of the House that for four years, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) continued to struggle for the Committee to be constituted. He said to probe the rigging in 2013 general elections, PTI had to wait for four years.
Fawad Chaudhry said the Chairman PTI Imran Khan said to open only four Constituencies, and after that what opened was in front of everyone.
The information minister said the Parliamentary Committee would be empowered and independent, adding reservations of the opposition would be addressed.
It is worth noting that all opposition parties including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) demanded the formation of a Parliamentary Commission to probe the alleged election rigging, saying that if their demand wasn’t met, they wouldn’t let the House Proceedings be occurred.
