KARACHI: Senator Hasil Bizenjo, who heads the National Party based in Balochistan, said on Thursday that the ‘establishment’ should come forward and rule the country on its own if it wanted so, otherwise “it should let political parties play their part”.

“We fight elections, but the result is prepared elsewhere. The election commission has played the role of a postman in recent elections, which were the worst in the (country’s) history,” said the NP leader who had been a loyal ally of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s previous federal government in which he was minister for ports and shipping.

Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, he alleged that the ele­ction commission had begun the ‘first phase of rigging’ soon after the appointment of Balochistan’s caretaker chief minister.

He said Wednesday’s elections were the ‘worst’ election in the history of Pakistan in which “the results were rigged across the country”.

NP chief alleges ECP began the ‘first phase of rigging’ soon after the appointment of Balochistan’s caretaker chief minister

“Our polling agents were harassed and were taken hostage,” he said, adding, “they were harassed till the early hours of the next morning. Later, we told the polling staff that they should release our workers even if we are not given the results”.

He said modern technology should not be blamed if “you want to change the results and rig elections”.

He said he was amazed at the victory of the Pakistan Peoples Party in Kohlu.

He blamed the ‘establishment’ that it had influenced the appointment of “an incompetent individual” as the province’s caretaker chief minister.

Mr Bizenjo said it was time that all political parties sat together and decided whether parliament should rule or, what he called, “surkh feeta shahi”.

“It is a huge historic moment we are going through when everything should be decided. It is time for all of us to make sure that democracy should be the country’s only hope.”

Mr Bizenjo said the country was going through a huge crisis for all the wrong reasons and by ‘manufacturing’ results of its own interest the establishment had deepened the crisis even further.

“All democratic and political forces should join hands and think over what is actually brewing against the country’s democratic future,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2018