"Democracy is being strangled": PTI vice chairman Qureshi on upcoming elections
Jan 28, 2024
Islamabad [Pakistan], January 28 : Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi has termed the upcoming general polls 'mock elections', saying that the exercise is a waste of money, The Express Tribune reported on Sunday.
"Democracy is being strangled and the Constitution is being mocked," Qureshi told media persons at the Adiala Jail on Saturday.
According to the report, the PTI leader also urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan and chief election commissioner to consider the PTI's demand of a level playing field.
"What is happening against us is not a level-playing field. Where will we take our complaint? From where will we get justice?" Qureshi said, "Even the British and Ranjit Singh had not crossed the threshold of my 125-year-old house."
On the "injustice being meted out to the PTI", Qureshi said veteran politician Javed Hashmi's house was attacked and "our meeting was stopped".
The Tribune reported that the leader also targeted the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and said that the Pakistan Peoples Party chairman was supporting the PTI's stand that the Avenfield apartments in London were built with corruption money.
Qureshi. meanwhile, accused the PPP of using the resources of the Sindh local government for the upcoming general elections, adding that PML-N's Nehal Hashmi and the Grand Democratic Alliance were saying the same.
Pressing for a level-playing field, Qureshi said eight people were arrested during a raid at his house in Multan and the election material of his daughter and son was taken away.
Comparing the treatment with that being provided to other political parties, the PTI senior vice chairman said the PML-N and the PPP had been given open permission to hold meetings.
"What kind of election is this?" he asked, adding that the nation and the world would not accept the elections in such an environment as "our fundamental rights are being violated".
Last year, in December, former minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was re-arrested outside Adiala jail after being granted bail by the Supreme Court in the cipher case.
The PTI erupted in protest against the re-arrest of their leader, alleging that Qureshi was mistreated by police officers as he was stating his rights.
