Daily Times

Sir: So after all the screaming and shouting about rigging and the repeated empty or deliberate false promises to reveal proof and witnesses in respect thereof, the PTI leader now says the proof of rigging is in the ballot boxes, which must be opened to reveal proof. But for the sake of argument, based on the PTI leader’s impressive track record of refusing to accept an outcome he does not like, what would be the PTI’s reaction to a ballot box reopening exercise that confirmed that beyond ‘normal’ election irregularities, there was no widespread rigging that resulted in anything resembling a stolen mandate?

In line with the PTI’s very clever but difficult to understand logic, the next step could be to insist that the absence of proof of rigging only confirms that the ballot boxes were re-tampered with to maintain the election outcome. What we really need to satisfy the PTI and its followers is a fresh election conducted exclusively by PTI loyalists and where only PTI supporters are allowed to vote as nothing and no one other than PTI loyalists are trustworthy or deserving of faith or confidence. This hopefully would give the PTI an election outcome acceptable to it. And then, maybe, just maybe, the PTI will pretend to give some attention to the province that indeed voted it to power, which it has sadly shown no inclination or interest to govern at all.

Sher Ali Khan

Mardan