Pakistan holds elections on February 8 (data map)
Islamabad:
Liaquat Ali Chattha, a former senior official, claimed that 13 candidates from the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi were forcibly declared winners in the election, only to withdraw on Thursday in a U-turn He said he was “extremely ashamed and embarrassed” by his actions. Claim.
“I take full responsibility for my actions and will surrender to the authorities in any form of legal proceedings,” Chatta, a former Rawalpindi commissioner, was quoted as saying by Geo News.
Mr Chatta resigned from his post on Saturday after “taking responsibility” for manipulating the poll results. “I take responsibility for all these misconducts and tell you that the Chief Electoral Commissioner and the Chief Justice were also fully involved,” he said.
He also accused Pakistan’s Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Issa of facilitating the manipulation.
Chatta, who withdrew his accusations in a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday, said all this was done in coordination with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party led by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. , the party had promised him “huge profits.” Position”.
Chatta, who has been a civil servant for 32 years, said he “traveled to Lahore secretly and discreetly” after the February 8 elections and met with PTI leaders on February 11.
“It was during this meeting that he proposed to me that he would secure me a lucrative position in the future if I played a role in supporting the PTI’s ongoing narrative of rigged elections and defamation of state institutions.” Mr Chatta He said the PTI leader told him that the entire plan was prepared in consultation with and approved by the party’s senior leadership.
“The suggestion was made by the person taking into account the fact that I was about to retire. He was also aware of the pressure I was facing due to my impending retirement. It would naturally be difficult for any civil servant to give up all the perks, privileges and authority after continuing to serve for 32 years,” he said in a statement provided to the media.
“Initially, I proposed that I write down the entire narrative and submit it as part of my resignation. However, the proposal was dropped by the aforementioned prominent PTI leaders as such a written resignation would not create any buzz for their narrative construction .” ,” He said.
He said that after detailed discussions, it was agreed that he would chair the press conference and the specific time and date would be fixed after consultation and approval of the PTI senior leadership.
Chatta said the main purpose of the proposed press conference was to create sensation and drama and enhance PTI’s false narrative.
He said the use of the name of Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faiz Issa was intended to create public distrust against him. “The Chief Justice played no role in the entire election process.” “However, the prominent PTI leader specifically asked me to name the CJP. He told me that he was specifically asked to do so by his top leadership. The person behind naming the CJP The purpose is manifold.” Similarly, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja has been appointed to raise questions on the entire electoral process across Pakistan, he said.
“Finally, I feel extremely ashamed and embarrassed for making completely false, concocted, anti-national, malicious remarks at a press conference. This behavior has brought embarrassment to me and the entire bureaucracy,” he added.
Reacting to the development, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz accused former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party of trying to make the election disputed.
“Shame on PTI, behind every propaganda is PTI!! They are trying to make the election controversial! Tarnishing the image of Pakistan!” the party said in a post on X.
His accusation comes amid nationwide protests by Khan’s party over alleged rigging and theft of its mandate in the February 8 election. Chatahar’s allegation lends credence to PTI’s claim that its candidate failed to win due to fraud.
Pakistan’s Election Commission has set up a high-level committee to investigate the explosive allegations made by him.
The Election Commission of Pakistan strongly refutes Mr Chatta’s allegations against the Chief Election Commissioner.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
