PR LAHORE - Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) central leader and former deputy prime minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has said that Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif are rigging specialists, but rigging in the NA-120 by-elections cannot save Shehbaz and his cronies from punishment in the Model Town killings case.

“The media should expose their electoral rigging and tactics. The Pakistan Muslim League under the leadership of Senator Kamil Ali Agha will fully run its election campaign in support of PTI candidate Yasmin Rashid. PML women will also be deployed as polling agents,” he said while addressing a press conference after a meeting with a delegation of the PTI. PTI leaders Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, Mian Mahmudul Rasheed, Hamid Meraj and Mian Majid were members of the delegation, which met Elahi at his residence here on Sunday. During the meeting, PML Secretary General and MNA Tariq Bashir Cheema, Senator Kamil Ali Agha, Moonis Elahi and Mian Munir were also present.

Elahi said he had a firm belief that Shehbaz and others linked to the murder of 14 “innocent” people in Model Town could not escape punishment in this life and the life hereafter. “Our courts have written a history. The Justice Baqar Najafi report will be published and Shehbaz Sharif and all other accused will essentially be punished,” he said. He said “we have supported the PTI in the bye-elections and we are trying to win support of the entire opposition for the PTI candidate”. He said the media would play a vital role, especially on the by-election day, because the PML-N was master of rigging and it had not won any election without rigging until now. He said that Shehbaz himself had constituted the Baqir Najafi Commission and now he had pushed the commission report under the rug because he was seeing the gallows. He said that Shehbaz was living in fear after the killing of 14 innocent people in Model Town in Lahore a couple of years ago.

Expressing his gratitude to PML President Chaudhry Shujat Hussain and Elahi for their support to the PTI candidate, Sarwar said the PML had guided and supported the PTI in the NA-122 by-election. He said that Kamil Ali Agha had a great influence in the NA-120 constituency and he was thankful to Elahi for asking Agha to take part in PTI’s election campaign. He said that experienced PML women polling agents would be representing the PTI. He demanded that the Baqir Najafi report be published forthwith.

Sarwar said the PML-N was setting new records of pre-poll rigging, but the election commission was not paying attention to PTI’s complaints. He said that 30,000 votes in the NA-120 constituency were not verifiable and six polling stations had been set up in one building. “We have decided to approach the Lahore High Court in this regard,” he said.