‘Show some grace and step aside,’ Imran Khan's party tells 'mandate thieves'

The incarcerated former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khans TehreekeInsaf party Wednesday rejected the attempts by two of the countryrsquos partyrsquos trying to form a coalition government warning that robbing its public endorsement by the mandate thieves will result in the worst political instabilityAlmost two weeks after the February 8 general elections that delivered a fractured mandate there was finally a breakthrough late on Tuesday night that could end the political impasse in the country newswire PTI reportedMuch to the chagrin of Khan and his party independents backed by his PakistanTehreekeInsaf PTI won majority seats at the National Assembly the Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz PMLN and the Pakistan Peoples Party PPP have agreed on a powersharing deal to form a new coalition governmentPMLNs Shehbaz Sharif has been nominated as the prime minister candidate while PPPs Asif Ali Zardari is for the presidents office The PPP said it will not join the federal cabinet but the Senate chairman will be that of the PPPReacting sharply to the latenight political developments the PTI said it ldquocompletely rejected the attempts to create a spectacle of PDM2 in the country by collecting the peoples rejected mandate thievesrdquoEarlier on Tuesday Khan had slammed the powerful establishment and his political opponents by terming the countrys election process as the Mother of All Rigging and demanded that the peoples mandate that was ldquostolenrdquo from his party must be returnedOn Wednesday the party posted its official statement on X handle which said the PTI ldquocompletely rejected the attempts to create a spectacle of PDM2 in the country by collecting the peoples rejected mandate thievesrdquoldquoEnslavement of the nation by robbing the public mandate will result in worst political instabilityrdquo it said adding ldquoDespite the unjust imprisonment of Imran Khan the taking away of election symbols and not being allowed to campaign the people have given a clear majority of 180 seats to TehreekeInsafrdquoldquoRespect the voterdquo the party urged its rivalsThe state decisionmakers should be aware and instead of bulldozing the peoples mandate in the centre and Punjab issue the results as per Form 45 and give the right to form the government to the peoples elected majority party it saidBarrister Gohar Ali Khan who is the chairman of PTI warned that history is a witness that every time an attempt was made to run the state without needing the constitution and democracy the homeland was engulfed in crises and accidents knocked on our doorstepIn a lengthy post on X the party chief criticised the election commissions role in the February 8 pollsThrough the criminal alteration of the election results is a recipe for disaster in every sense he wroteThe Pakistan TehreekeInsaf will fulfil the duty of guarding the mandate of the people and will raise its voice with full force at all levels to protect the sanctity of the peoples vote God willing he addedPTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan said that the PMLNPPP agreement for sharing power ldquois a despicable example of how state interests are bartered by this criminal mafia to advance their personal gains and those of their partners in crimerdquoldquoWhile the nation is still licking the wounds inflicted by the PDM1 concoction PDM2 has been imposed to further deepen the gashes And this potion has been brewed by blatantly and shamelessly blocking the peoples mandate and depriving the PTI of its seats in the assemblies through a vile operation conducted by the nightrdquo Hasan saidPartys senior leader Asad Qaisar said that the PTI had won 180 seats in the National Assembly and 220 in the Punjab Assembly but the ldquomandate thievesrdquo have deprived Khans party of about 90 NA seats over 100 seats or Punjab Assembly through massive riggingresult changeQaisar also said that the PTI will fight at every forum to get back its stolen mandate and added it is a shame that a party PMLN having just 17 NA seats out of a total of 266 is going to form the governmentldquoShow some grace and step aside from the governmentrdquo Qaiser said while speaking with media persons outside the Adiala Jail at Rawalpindi where Khan has been lodged since last year Dawncom reportedMeanwhile throughout the day PTI kept posting photos and images through a long thread that showed posters with names and pictures of Returning Officers ROs who the party claimed ldquostole Pakistans mandaterdquoldquoThere shall be a trial for Article 6 on all of them for stealing the constitutional right of peoples right to elect their leadersrdquo the party declared With inputs from agencies