Daily Times

As the race for the post of Senate chairman heats up between the government and the opposition parties, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz claimed that attempts are being made to rig the elections and that her party’s Senators are being told not to vote for the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) candidate.

Taking to Twitter on Thursday, Maryam claimed that PML-N Senators were being called and asked not to vote for Gilani in the upcoming Senate chairman election. “Our senators are being called and asked not to vote for PDM candidate. Some of them have recorded the evidence,” she tweeted.

PML-N’s senior leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi alleged that an attempt was being made to ‘rig’ the election for the Senate chairman and deputy chairman offices, saying such practices are not good for the country.

Addressing a press conference alongside other PML-N leaders, Abbasi alleged that members of his party had received calls in which they were asked to vote in favour of PTI candidate Sadiq Sanjrani and against the joint opposition candidate Yousuf Raza Gilani. “Names of callers can also be taken here but it is not the purpose. We do not talk about one person. We talk about the idea that is being used in Pakistan today to rig this election,” he added.

Abbasi said the PML-N desires the country to be run according to the constitution. He reiterated that although PML-N Senator Hafiz Abdul Karim had the names of the persons who allegedly called him, this was not the purpose of their press conference. “Hafiz Abdul Karim is one person, a lot of senators might have received [calls] but might have not told [about them],” he said. “As long as the democratic process in the country is not in accordance with the constitution, we will continue doing things such as those that happened with Hafiz Abdul Karim,” he added.

This would result in similar damage to the country’s economy as could be seen these days, he said. “It is unfortunate that even after 73 years, in the 21st century, we are still doing things that no country in the world does,” he said. “There is still time to hold Senate election as per the constitution and the senators’ choices,” he added.

The former prime minister said that change in the current system is only possible when people like Senator Karim come forward to talk about the pressure exerted on them.

“This election used to be [held] in a pleasant environment and a Senate chairman was elected after everyone was in agreement,” he added, noting that cracks were made in 2018 to make the election and the upper house of the Parliament – the Senate – “controversial”. “It’s unfortunate that people whose party didn’t have any representation in that province were elected in the Senate elections 2018 and a person whose party didn’t even exist was made the Senate chairman,” Abbasi said. “At that time, the PML-N and its allies had a clear majority and was in the government but a situation that was created at that time – that I had mentioned as the prime minister – over how there was rigging in the elections and how the country’s [upper] House was maligned.”

He said he would avoid going to the Senate for as long as he was the prime minister “because I didn’t consider him [Senate chairman] the representative of the people of Pakistan”. “All of Pakistan knows whatever has happened in the new election and who gave and received Rs700 million,” he added. “It’s unfortunate that the country’s prime minister first gives the ticket against Rs700 million and then rescinds it due to pressure from his own party. He gets him elected as an independent, calls him to his office, and then puts a leash of his party on him. That Rs700-million leash is a slap in the face of Pakistani people,” he stated.