US lawmakers urge President Biden to withhold 'recognition' of Pak's new govt

Citing strong evidence of election rigging in Pakistan a group of influential lawmakers including Muslim legislators belonging to the ruling Democratic Party has urged US President Joe Biden to withhold recognition of a new government in Islamabad until a transparent and credible investigation is conductedThe February 8 general election marred by allegations of widespread rigging in Pakistan resulted in a hung Parliament with independent candidates backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khans Pakistan TehreekeInsaf PTI party winning more than 90 seats at the 266member National Assembly Expremier Nawaz Sharifs PMLN bagged 75 seats and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhuttos PPP got 54 seats The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan MQMP won 17 seatsIn a joint letter to President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken the lawmakers expressed concerns about pre and postpoll rigging in Pakistans recent parliamentary elections and urged the US Congress to withhold recognition of a new government in Pakistan until a thorough transparent and credible investigation of election interference has been conductedIslamabad is a longstanding ally of Washington and it is in the interest of the US to ensure that democracy thrives in Pakistan and that election results reflect the interests of the Pakistani people not the interests of the Pakistani elite and military the letter sent on Wednesday saidSince the election resulted in a hung Parliament the Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz PMLN and the Pakistan Peoples Party PPP have struck a postpoll deal along with four other parties to form a coalition government which may effectively end Khans chances of returning to power A party must win 133 out of 265 contested seats in the 266member National Assembly to form a governmentPTI has rejected the attempts by the PMLN and the PPP to form a coalition government warning that robbing its public endorsement by the mandate thieves will result in the worst political instabilityAlso read Donald Trump defeats Haley in Michigan Biden wins Democratic primaryGiven the strong evidence of pre and postpoll rigging we urge you to wait until a thorough transparent and credible investigation has been conducted before recognising a new Pakistani government Without taking this necessary step you risk enabling antidemocratic behaviour by Pakistani authorities and could undermine the democratic will of the Pakistani people the US lawmakers saidThe letter urged Pakistani authorities to release anyone who has been detained for engaging in political speech or activity and tasked State Department officials in Pakistan with gathering information about such cases and advocating for their releaseIt urged the Biden administration to make clear to Pakistani authorities that US law provides for accountability for acts that violate human rights undermine democracy or further corruption including the potential for military and other cooperation to be haltedThe letter noted that before the elections former prime minister Khan was sentenced to prison terms of 10 years and 14 years on questionable charges of leaking state secrets and corruption Members of his PTI party were forced to run as independents and prohibited from using the party symbol on the ballot despite consistently polling as the most popular party in the countryLeading up to the election PTI members faced police raids arrests and harassment On the day of the election Pakistani authorities suspended mobile calls and data making it harder for voters to find polling stations the lawmakers notedWhile the prepoll rigging efforts rightly received widespread international and domestic condemnation attention has now turned to widespread allegations of pastpoll rigging they saidConcerns arose after delays in reporting final results and early returns showed PTIbacked candidates on a path to victory Over the coming days and weeks previously reported vote totals allegedly changed dramatically while video evidence emerged on social media of purported abuses by security forces and election officials at polling stations as results were delayed well past legal deadlines the letter saidThe legislators noted that findings by nonpartisan observers also lend credibility to these concernsAccording to the Free and Fair Election Network FAFEN which is nonpartisan but has worked closely with election authorities more than twothirds of polling sites suffered from the kinds of election law violations that could have enabled changing outcomes of races they noted adding that these findings were echoed by other election monitors human rights organisations and the nations media as wellThis growing body of evidence and diversity of voices has led many of the leading observers human rights organisations and media organisations to call for a transparent credible audit process to verify the true outcome of the election they emphasised urging the Biden administration to show Pakistanis that the US stands with them in their fight for democracy and human rightsAccording to a report in Pakistans Dawn newspaper all 33 signatories are pivotal progressive Democrats essential for securing President Bidens second termIt noted that influential Muslim lawmakers Rashida Tlaib Ilhan Omar and Andre Carson have also endorsed the proPTI letterThe letter was also signed by Indianorigin Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal the chaishyrshyperson of the Progressive CaucusThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever