The US has demanded respect for freedom of assembly and protest in Pakistan.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, when asked about the Pakistani police’s use of a colonial-era law against public gatherings, told reporters during a briefing in Washington on Monday, “We have no gatherings anywhere in the world.” want to see respecting the freedom of.
According to Matthew Miller, Pakistani authorities have warned that they will ban protests by supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan after his election victory.
Independent candidates, most of whom belong to Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), won the most seats in the election, ending the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s chances of a ruling majority. Is.
However, PTI leaders have been alleging election rigging and calling for protests outside election offices.
In Pakistan, independent candidates cannot form a government, which has created the fear of prolonged political uncertainty.
Miller repeated previous U.S. calls for an investigation into claims of fraud but clarified that the results showed competitive votes were cast.
‘We believe the fraud claims require a full investigation.
“It was clearly a competitive election in which people were able to exercise their choice,” he said.
“Ultimately, we respect the democratic process and we are ready to work with the government once it is formed,” said a US State Department spokesperson.
Will not investigate alleged rigging at country’s behest: Caretaker PM
Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan Anwarul Haq Kakar has said in his first news conference after the February 8, 2024 elections that he will not investigate the alleged rigging of the elections at the behest of any country.
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While talking to media representatives at Prime Minister House Islamabad on Monday, he said that European Union, United Kingdom and America are friendly countries but they cannot interfere in internal affairs.
He alleged that these countries believed the news circulating on social media to be true and therefore they are saying such things. “If necessary, they will investigate the alleged rigging in the elections according to their own laws.”
He termed the allegations of alleged rigging by some members of the US Congress as personal opinion and said that they are not the opinion of the US government.
He said that if someone had to do the rigging, the largest army was present in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but nothing like that happened.
Aka Dakka incidents are not denied: Election Commission
On the other hand, the Election Commission of Pakistan in a statement completely rejected the allegations of election rigging and said that there is no denying the incidents for which there are relevant forums to remedy and the Election Commission even in these days office hours and office hours. The latter is still receiving such complaints for a long time and prompt decisions are also being taken on them.’
The Election Commission of Pakistan said in a statement on Monday night that on the advice of the security agencies, apart from the banning of mobile phones by the federal government, the formation of groups to keep the polling process peaceful and orderly and to protect the polling staff and polling materials. Transportation was ensured under security.
However, due to non-availability of mobile network, lack of connectivity, long distance and remote location of polling stations, traveling in the dark of night, extreme weather conditions and presence of snow in some areas and loss on highways in some places. Due to sit-in by the supporters of the candidates, the polling staff faced difficulties in transportation.
On the delay in announcing the election results, the Election Commission said in a statement that it is important to mention that the first result was received at 4 am in the 2018 general election, while the first result in 2024 was received at 2 pm.
“Similarly, in 2018, the editing of the results was completed in about three days, while this time, except for some constituencies, the election results were completed in a day and a half.”
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2024-07-01 00:57:16