Pak EC should look into rigging allegations: Prez

Islamabad, August 14 

In an unusual move, Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain in his Independence Day address, raised the issue of alleged rigging in the July 25 elections and asked the election commission to look into the complaints of political parties to make the poll process “fully transparent”.

Addressing an official function held at the Jinnah Convention centre here to commemorate the country’s 72nd Independence Day, Hussain said it is crucial for the country to make state institutions powerful and independent.

Various political parties have alleged that elections won by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf 

of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan were not fair and demanded a probe. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif on Monday alleged that “historical rigging” took place during the July 25 elections.

President Hussain said the elections and celebration of Pakistan’s Independence Day were held in close proximity which “is a reminder that the way this country had come into being with the people’s will, in the same manner, the decisions regarding its fate will be made through the vote.”

He said the polls were organised under new laws enacted by the previous government to make the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) powerful and independent.

He said there was a complete unity in the country to make the process of elections “fully transparent” and the previous elected representative made laws to empower the ECP. “But if some groups express disquiet over the issue of elections despite the efforts to make them transparent, then it is the responsibility of the ECP to pacify them and took such steps that voters should be confident that decisions about matters of state would be accepted and implemented,” President Hussain, said.

Pakistan celebrates August 14 as the Independence Day which marks the transfer of power by last British viceroy to the new government of Pakistan in Karachi. — PTI 

Future generations deserve peace: Envoy

• The Pakistan High Commission on Tuesday celebrated the country’s 72nd Independence Day in New Delhi. High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood articulated the vision of the nation’s founding father for a ‘moderate, economically-strong, Islamic welfare state’
• “Our next generations deserve a better future, one marked by peace and opportunities for progress and prosperity. I hope South Asia will known in the world not for confrontation, but for cooperation,” he said