After JC report, Nawaz Sharif should himself tender an apology: Imran

ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday said he is not disappointed by the Judicial Commission’s report over alleged rigging in the 2013 General Election rather he was proud of the panel that conducted the hearing in an ‘unprecedented manner’.

Addressing a press conference to give his response over the inquiry commission’s report that rejected his allegations of organised rigging in the 2013 polls, the PTI chief said he was left with no option but to come out on streets to protest in order to get his demands met.

“Had the government opened four constituencies, no dharna (sit-in) would have been held,” he said. Khan said he came out on streets after knocking every door of justice and finding them closed.

The PTI chief said he went to Supreme Court with a request of probe in the four constituencies but former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who he claimed used to take suo motu notices over prices of tomatoes, didn’t pay any heed to his plea on the pretext of pending cases.

Imran Khan came down hard on those who leveled allegations of ‘London Plan’ and military support to PTI sit-in.

He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was seeking an apology from him after the JC report, should himself tender an apology.

The cricketer-turned-politician said he accepts Judicial Commission report, but he was rather disappointed as it failed to meet the high expectations he pinned to it, Geo News reported.

The press conference was held after an informal meeting of the PTI, presided over by Imran Khan, to review the JC report. Jahangir Tahreen, Asad Umar, Shireen Mazari, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Naeem Ul Haq attended the meeting.

Expressing his reservations over the findings of the inquiry commission, Khan questioned as to how the elections can be declared fair and transparent when 25 million form-15s were missing from the polling bags across the country.

The commission has left the probe inconclusive, said the PTI chief, who also praised the conduct of the commission. “I feel proud as a Pakistani over the way inquiry commission carried out its proceedings,” he said.

Khan said 413 petitions were dismissed on trivial technical grounds. “This is post-poll rigging,” he added.

Dismissing the notion that two years of the nation have been wasted due to his party’s anti-government protests, the PTI chairman said Pakistan in fact has progressed due to his sit-in, which he added had enlightened the masses.

“We came out on streets for the rights of the voter Pakistan is changing now.”

On Thursday, the three-judge commission, headed by Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, delivered its 237-page report, saying the elections were "in large part organised and conducted fairly and in accordance with the law" and allegations of a plot to rig the result were not supported by evidence.

The report pointed to shortcomings by the Electoral Commission of Pakistan but said the evidence did not support claims the result was not a "true and fair reflection of the mandate given by the electorate".

After the release, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in a nationwide televised address that his party was going to "forget whatever happened after the 2013 elections" and also hoped that his rivals would also avoid negative politics in future.

PTI chief Khan had earlier said he accepted the commission's decision but would give a detailed reaction later after reading the report in full.