ISLAMABAD    -  Pakistan People’s Party Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman on Monday condemned attacks on PPP workers in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The PPP Parliamentary Leader in the Senate said the PPP workers were peacefully protesting when Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf workers allegedly attacked them. “As if rigging the elections wasn’t enough, they have now resorted to violence,” she said.

“Shelling and firing on peaceful protesters is unacceptable. Such acts are just an attempt by the federal government to aggravate the situation. How is it possible that PPP gets more votes but PTI ends up with more seats,” she questioned.

Sherry Rehman said the PPP maintained the right to peacefully protest against rigging. “Has the government forgotten how they held the entire country hostage for 126 days? Burning cars to create chaos and blaming it on us is intolerable,” she added.

She said it seemed that the Chief Election Commissioner was biased and was not conducting forensic audit of the votes. “They had shut down the country on the results of four constituencies but cannot conduct forensic audit of one constituency on our demand,” she said.

The PPP Parliamentary Leader in the Senate said such “acts by the federal government are only exposing their true self to the world. The PM will be responsible if the condition deteriorates in GB.”

Meanwhile, in a statement on Monday Sherry Rehman slammed the “draconian” censorship laws introduced by the government. She said muzzling the truth and controlling the narrative was unacceptable in a democratic society. “These new rules are just another attempt by the government to infringe upon peoples’ privacy and strengthen its surveillance powers,” she said.

Highlighting Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s untrammelled powers, she said: “Under the guise of these rules, the government has broadened PTA’s powers and is attempting to censor criticism and opposition. Now PTA will get to interpret PPC sections without any check and balance and decide what content it considers unlawful, while playing the role of judge, jury and investigator. It will also have the authority to review appeals on the restriction or blocking of online content even before the high court can get involved. PTA also has the power to regulate the content being shared online and can get it removed within a day.”