The government proposed electoral reforms and amendments to the NAB laws have been formally rejected by JUI (F) Chief and PDM conveyor Maulana Fazlur Rehman asking for a complete abolition of the watchdog institution as, according to him, it has dictatorship elements and harasses political opponents.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman stated that the government which was itself the product of rigging should not be expected to conduct fair elections.
Opposition parties should come together to discuss and decide rules about electoral reforms, according to him. The opposition should give proposals regarding the implementation of these rules, he added.
The Maulana said that the most important thing even before going to the assembly about electoral reforms was that the Army needed to be separated from the electoral process.
“If the establishment is detached from the electoral process, then fair elections can be guaranteed,” he opined.
The political leader also said that people cast their votes to another person but when the counting was done, these votes were counted in favour of some other candidate. He joked that this saying had become famous nowadays: “Election is not about casting ballots; rather it’s about counting the ballots.”
The JUI-F Chief was of the view that there was a huge chance for a Kashmir Debacle just like the Dhaka Debacle in the past given the situation of the electoral reforms in Azad Kashmir and GB.
He flayed Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement regarding Kashmir referendum terming it against the traditional stance of Pakistan. He wondered if Imran did have this mandate to say something against our stated position on Kashmir.
Replying to a question, the Maulana said there was no question of reforms in the NAB laws. “It should be abolished altogether as NAB was created by a dictator who used it against politicians,” the Maulana concluded.