JI, PTI-backed members not to take oath: Hafiz Naeem

KARACHI: Opposition parties in Sindh announced to hold a joint protest outside the provincial assembly during the inaugural session against what they called ‘historical rigging’ in the General Elections 2024, ARY News reported.

The leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fzal (JUI-F) announced to protest in a joint press conference.

PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh said that the elections were ‘rigged’ in different ways in Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana, and Sukkur.

“There will be no talks with the Pakistan People’s Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan as both the parties are beneficiaries of the rigging,” Haleem Adil Sheikh added.

JI Karachi Ameer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that newly elected members of his party as well as the PTI would not take oath in the inaugural session as a protest.

He said that the PPP and MQM-P were awarded a ‘fake’ mandate of the province. “We will be expanding our protest,” Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said.

JUI-F leader Rashid Soomro said that they would be holding a protest headed by the GDA leadership. “If the opposition parties are denied to hold peaceful protest, we will not be responsible for any mishap,” Rashid Soomro.

GDA’s Safdar Abbasi termed the General Elections 2024 as the ‘most rigged polls’ in the country’s history. He said that opposition parties would never accept the ‘rigged’ results.

Safdar Abbasi also questioned the role of caretaker setup in Sindh, alleging interim Chief Minster Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar to ‘support’ the PPP.

It is pertinent to mention here that the GDA also held a protest demonstration at Hyderabad Bypass against ‘rigging’ in the elections in which other opposition parties also participated.

Addressing the protest, GDA Chief Pir Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi, popularly known as Pir Pagara, said that the General Elections 2024 were ‘sold’ three months back.

He said that he did not hold an election campaign as the elections were already ‘sold’.

Pir Pagara said that the PTI was ‘expelled’ from the electoral process based on Intra-party elections. “I don’t consider Imran Khan a thief. If he is a thief, we all are thieves too,” the GDA chief said.