Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif Friday demanded constituting a parliamentary commission to probe what he claimed rigging in the recently held general elections. Speaking in the National Assembly, Shehbaz suggested that the parliamentary commission should present its report to the public as well as the parliament within 30 days. He termed the recently elected national and provincial assemblies as controversial, adding his party members had taken oath of the office only in protest. The PML-N chief alleged that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had failed in conducting free, fair and transparent elections and demanded removing anomalies from the election laws. A large number of votes were rejected, he claimed. “This assembly was made after massive rigging. What sort of an election was this in which machines were shut down and polling agents were expelled from Chitral to Karachi?” he asked. “The voting process was deliberately slowed down. A record number of votes – 1.6 million – were discarded. Political leadership and workers were constantly targeted. Ballot papers are being discovered from the streets. This is the first election where the winners and losers are both crying,” Shehbaz said. He said that the people behind the electoral rigging must be exposed, adding that the rights of the opposition must be protected. The PML-N will neither attack parliament nor disturb the visits of foreign dignitaries to Pakistan, he said. “We won’t curse the parliament. We won’t force the Supreme Court judges to change their route, but we won’t settle before getting answers to our questions,” he asserted. He said that they would not rest until answers were not received and threatened to launch a campaign otherwise. “We will resort to the streets if our rights are not safeguarded by parliament.” Shehbaz alleged that only one political party was targeted in the general election. A first information report (FIR) including terrorism charges was registered against the leader of a political party, he said. While counting his government’s achievements, Shehbaz said that terrorism had been eliminated by the previous government and peace was restored in Karachi. He said about 11,000 MW electricity was also generated by his party’s government. Shehbaz said that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had given the gift of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to the country. The PML-N president added that Nawaz Sharif was being targeted for giving a go-ahead for the nuclear tests while rejecting $5 billion from the United States. “Nawaz Sharif promised to resign if rigging is proved in the judicial commission. Can you (Imran Khan) promise the same?” he asked. Published in Daily Times, August 18th 2018.