Result of NA-122 by-poll validated 2013 general elections: Pervaiz Rashid

Lahore:  Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Senator Pervaiz Rashid Monday said that result of October 11 by-elections in NA-122 has validated the results of 2013 general elections and PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s claims of rigging have been proved wrong.

Talking to media persons here the minister said that Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) had been claiming for past two and a half years that the Parliament was bogus as it came into being after the 2013 general elections which were stolen. He said that votes tally of the candidates of PML-N and PTI was almost the same of 2013.

About Okara by-elections, he said, no PML-N leader or worker went there for election campaign and still its candidate secured 45,000 votes while PTI candidate despite Imran’s public meetings, could muster only 7,000 votes. Moreover, he said, both winner and runner up candidates of
NA 144 were from the PML-N and the winning candidate in this constituency  has himself issued a statement after the victory that he is a PML-N worker.

About Sardar Ayaz Saddiq, PTI Chairman Imran Khan said he had taken 50,000 bogus votes in general elections but the result of NA 122 by-elections has proved yet again that 2013 elections were free and fair. The minister said that first the Judicial Inquiry Commission rejected the allegations of Imran Khan and now the people of NA 122 have rejected his claims.

If there were 50,000 bogus votes in the tally of Ayaz Sadiq in 2013 election, now he should have secured only 20,000 votes, the minister said. The perception, narrative, allegations and lies of Imran have
been rejected by the voters as Imran Khan has been using all these tactics to weaken the democratic institutions of the country, he added.
The results of NA-122, Okara, Mandi Bahauddin and Haripur demonstrate how the PML-N got 150 million votes in 2013 elections. He further said that Imran Khan now should quit the negative
attitude and stop making the election results controversial as making elections results controversial was tantamount to defaming the democratic institutions and rejecting the mandate given by the masses.

He appealed to Imran Khan to shun negative attitude and start constructive politics because as a nation we need to fight terrorism, energy crisis, unemployment, poverty and ignorance. He should come to the Parliament and give his proposals to the government as to what steps should be taken to make Pakistan a developed country, the minister remarked. He said Imran Khan used to say that Lahore by-elections would be a referendum to prove that 2013 elections were stolen; he levelled  allegations of printing ballot papers from Urdu bazar; 35 punctures; change of result by ROs, but the people’s verdict was against his wishes. He said Ayaz Sadiq as the Speaker National Assembly had performed his duties very efficiently in very difficult circumstances, and made very difficult decision above his personal likings and disliking.

The resignation letters of his worst detractors were lying on his table, but he did not allow personal issues to influence his judgement and followed the law and the Constitution and principles
of justice, he said.
To a question, he said the PML-N leadership not only toned down its language after the 2013 general elections, but also adopted a friendly attitude and allowed PTI to form government in
Khyber Pakhtunkhaw.
The PML-N leadership buried the acrimony and bitterness of the election campaign of 2013 but it was Imran Khan who revived the atmosphere of allegations and mudslinging.

To a question about the black day of October 12, 1999 when an elected government was toppled, he said, past was a history now and the present government wants to make Pakistan a developed state
so our next generation can have better future.
Earlier addressing the function to launch a report on the status of girl child the minister said discrimination against the girl child was one of the weaknesses of our society. He said he feels it strange to discriminate one with the other \ on the basis of gender.
The minister said in the Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam there was no difference between children on the basis of gender. If the Quaid had believed in gender bias, he could have ordered separate schools for them.

Pervaiz Rashid said that gender discrimination became rampant in Pakistan almost 30 years after the demise of the Quaid. He appreciated the hosts of the function for their efforts to end gender discrimination in the society. He called for change in social attitudes along with betterment in laws as only amendments in laws were not sufficient to change the society.

He said that two institutions of the government – Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation and Pakistan Television Corporation would play their due role in fighting the gender discrimination and would provide their forum for plays, debates on the issue and he personally would support this cause.