ISLAMABAD - An opposition party lawmaker Friday told the Senate Standing Committee on Interior that the last caretaker set-up would also have to appear before the proposed parliamentary committee to probe the allegations of rigging in the July 25 elections.
PML-N Senator Asad Ali Khan Junejo said that last caretaker prime minister Justice (retd) Nasirul Mulk and his cabinet members were also answerable to the parliament and they would have to appear before the parliamentary committee to give answers regarding the allegations of rigging in the 2018 general elections.
Speaking in the committee that was held in the chair of PPP Senator Rehman Malik, PML-N lawmaker said that conclusion on rigging allegations could not be reached as long as forensic and electronic audit of election results would not be held.
The committee had separately launched a probe on allegations of alleged rigging in the general election under the instructions of Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani. Rehman Malik told the participants that the committee had completed 80 per cent investigations and had so far submitted three reports in the house.
He informed the participants that the committee did not want to pursue the investigations into rigging further as the parliamentary committee on the issue has been proposed. “I don’t think it is ethically correct to pursue this matter anymore,” he said.
He said that the committee would assist the proposed parliamentary committee to reach a conclusion on the issue. “The committee is satisfied over parliamentary panel to be constituted to probe the allegations of rigging,” he said.
Taking an overview of the investigations that were completed by the committee, Senator Rehman Malik said that since all reports of the investigations had been submitted to the house and were part of the record.
He said the committee would recommend that all evidence must be submitted to the parliamentary committee. “This record could be used as guideline for further investigations,” he added.
He said that he would also recommend that members of this committee involved in the probe might also be included in the proposed parliamentary committee to get good results.
The chair revealed that there were certain grey areas which have been mentioned in the committee’s report.
He said that the committee has gone through Result Transmission System (RTS) and Results Management System (RMS) in detail and recommended in the report that forensic audit report received by the committee from National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should be further investigated through technical experts.
He said that a letter had already been written to the Ministry of Interior in this regard, however the committee was waiting for the response.
Malik said that the “grey areas” the committee had already pointed out and investigated included the delay in election results, the failure of the RTS housed in NADRA, issues related to the ECP’s RMS, observations of the members on the RTS and RMS, the shortage or non-provision of Form 45s, the ouster of polling agents from polling stations, the number of rejected votes, the failure of internet and telephone services in constituencies, the breakdown of the internet server at NADRA headquarters, reservations of parliamentarians, and the recovery of stamped ballot papers from roadsides, dustbins and elsewhere.
Rehman Malik said that the committee found that Form 45 of 92,000 polling stations were without signatures. Out of the total of 84,000 presiding officers, the 40,000 did not comply with the ECP’s criteria. He further stated that approximately 4,500 presiding officers did not possess mobile phones, consequently they did not have access to RMS and RTS facility.
According to the Election Act 2017, all polling stations must have been monitored by CCTV cameras, there was a clear violation of this law since the ECP informed the committee that due to unavoidable circumstances, all stations could not be manned and monitored by this system, Senator Rehman Malik added.
Senator Azam Khan Swati insisted that forensic audit was imperative to prove transparency of these elections. He recommended that the committee must recommend suspension of Chairman NADRA Usman Mobin and authority’s DG Project Zulfiqar Ali and DG Operations Nisar Ahmed Mir immediately.
Senator Asad Ali Khan Junejo strongly opposed the suggestion of suspension of NADRA officers by Senator Muhammad Azam Khan Swati. He said that without proving allegations, no such measures should be taken.
He further stated that in order to investigate security logs, there must be more than one company on the panel so that the parliamentary committee could select a company from within.
He said that it was extremely important to know what happened at 11:47pm on the night of Election Day.
The committee also adopted a unanimous resolution condemning the threats given by the Indian Army Chief to Pakistan. “The committee strongly condemned the threats by Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat and the undiplomatic response of India by declining Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New York,” the resolution said.
The committee feels it is a sheer disrespect shown against Pakistan and it also clearly indicates the inimical and non-cooperative mindset of India to opt not to proceed with peace process but confronting policy, the resolution further reads.
The committee also condemned the Indian brutalities in Indian Held Kashmir. The senior officers from Ministry of Interior, NADRA, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and ECP attended the meeting.