Wednesday, July 25, 2018

#MassiveRigging - #PPP - Rigging in Election 2018 - Important PPP Press Conference in Karachi

Pakistan is my home. But as a journalist, my life is in danger there Taha Siddiqui






I can finally say what I want to the chief of the Pakistani army: dissent is essential to progress. Don’t censor it.
To the chief of the army of Pakistan,
I did not want to write an open letter to you. But after much deliberation, I thought it was important – not just for you to know what is happening in our beloved country, but also for the world to be aware of how dissent is being targeted in Pakistan, forcing journalists like me into exile.
It is also important to write this now. This week Pakistan’s leading news channel, Geo, is being shut down across the country, under orders alleged to have come from your office.
Insiders say the intensification of attacks on the press is part of an organised campaign by the army of Pakistan to ensure that efforts to engineer and manipulate the 2018 elections are not openly discussed in the media. But did you not just recently say that you are the biggest supporter of democracy? If that statement was true, then you must stop your men from pulling the plug on freedom of speech, which is an essential characteristic of democracy.
But before I tell you more about why freedom of speech is a fundamental right, I want to bring you up to date with what has been happening in my life. I currently live in Paris and have been here for the last seven weeks. When I decided to go into exile from my homeland, my wife and I were on the same page about it.
After my failed abduction attempt on 10 January this year by people I suspect to have been under your command, and the arrest warrants issued for me last year for “maligning the army”, we were left with no choice but to escape our own country. But we had to deal with another person in our family – Miranshah, our four-and-a-half-year-old son. We did not tell him what had happened or why we were being forced into exile. We decided to keep his childhood intact and to not burden him with the dark realities of his country of origin. Instead we told him that we were leaving to find better work in France.
He started to cry, and would not stop asking us what was wrong in Islamabad, and saying how he did not want to go to any other school as his friends would not be there. He screamed and shouted at us, and eventually just sobbed, with his head in his mother’s lap.
Once he had calmed down, all he asked was whether he could take his toys. We immediately said yes. But his simple request broke my heart. It was so tough for me, a father, and for my wife, his mother, to see our young child being asked to wrap up his life in Pakistan. Given the urgency of the situation, we had to do it all in a couple of weeks. And in return, all he asked for was his toys. During those last days in Islamabad, I remember meeting Pakistan’s interior minister, Ahsan Iqbal, who invited me over for a cup of tea to discuss my abduction attempt. It was there that I had the idea of writing this letter, as the interior minister, who is technically your boss, suggested that I write to you to say sorry, and seek a pardon. He told me I should explain how I am a patriot, and want the best for Pakistan. It was then that I decided that if the highest law enforcement officer in the land, the federal interior minister, could not help me, I was on my own, and I needed to get out to stay alive.
Now I am taking up his suggestion of writing to you. But I want to do this publicly, and to make some different points to those he had in mind. As a journalist I am trained to speak about issues publicly, and since the matter of freedom of speech does not concern just me or you, but our homeland, there needs to be an open dialogue about it.
As I write these words, news has come in of a tribal belt journalist picked up by men from security agencies. And I know journalists back home will not talk openly about this or the hundreds of other enforced disappearances, fearing for their own safety. When I was abducted,your men did it in broad daylight, on one of the the main highways of Islamabad. There was traffic all around, and everyone saw the whole episode, but apart from one female student no one has come forward to talk about it. Is this the society you want future generations to grow up in, where those in power can do what they like and no one even dares to come forward to help or speak about it?
Back in 1947, my grandparents left everything behind in India to migrate to Pakistan. They wanted the freedom they would enjoy in a country where they were not in a religious minority. Little did they know that this freedom would be short-lived, and their own grandson would be forced out of the country. Is this why our ancestors struggled to create Pakistan?
Pakistan was, is and will always remain my home. My life in Islamabad was comfortable. I had a lovely two-storey residence overlooking a garden, where I made my son plant trees – an early lesson for him in making Pakistan a greener place. I had a good job, and so did my wife. Now I live in a foreign country where they do not speak my language and I do not have proper means to provide for my family. My wife is unemployed and my child has no friends at school. I am pointing this all out for you so that you and your team of social media trolls understand that being uprooted from one’s homeland is not as charming as you perhaps want to make it sound.
Our country faces a great deal of turmoil. The only way to address this is to first talk about the issues, and not silence that conversation, because dissent is an essential part of progress. If you do not get to hear what is wrong in Pakistan, you will live in a fool’s paradise, thinking all is well. And one day you will wake up to find the country imploding, as it did in 1971. And suppressing dissent only makes it more credible. In my case, after my exile, not only has my voice become louder, given the safety I now enjoy, but what I say now has more weight. Was that the best strategy for your men to follow? Perhaps not, since I now speak at international summits about attacks on press freedom in Pakistan.
I therefore humbly request you revisit the idea of censoring the truth. This censorship only promotes ignorance. If you wish to see a pluralistic, progressive and democratic Pakistan, as we all do, you and your organisation need to allow dissent, and permit dissenters like me to return and enjoy the freedom our forefathers intended Pakistan to symbolise.

Taha Siddiqui on Pakistan’s Muzzled Media


#Pakistan - SUICIDE BOMBER DETONATES LEAVING 30 DEAD OUTSIDE QUETTA POLLING STATION

At least 30 people, including three policemen and two children, were martyred in a suicide attack outside a polling station near Eastern Bypass in Quetta on Wednesday, Civil Hospital spokesperson said.
Polling has resumed in the polling station after being suspended though the number of voters is low, the presiding officer said.
Furthermore, Balochistan Chief Minister has summoned a report on the matter and instructed authorities to provide quality medical facilities to the injured. He has also directed security agencies to beef up security in the province.
The border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan in Chaman, Balochistan was closed by the government on Tuesday for two days in the wake of the general election.
Polling across the country for the 11th General Election began at 8am.
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Thirty-five others were injured in the attack at the Tameer-e-Nau polling station, according to the Civil Hospital spokesperson.
Rescue sources said the explosion occurred near a police vehicle on routine patrolling.
A police spokesperson said the suicide bomber wanted to enter the polling station.
"The suicide bomber blew himself up when police and FC personnel stopped him from entering the station," the police spokesperson said.
Polling has resumed in the polling station after being suspended though the number of voters is low, the presiding officer said.
Furthermore, Balochistan Chief Minister has summoned a report on the matter and instructed authorities to provide quality medical facilities to the injured. He has also directed security agencies to beef up security in the province.
The border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan in Chaman, Balochistan was closed by the government on Tuesday for two days in the wake of the general election.
Polling across the country for the 11th General Election began at 8am.

http://www.shiitenews.org/index.php/pakistan/item/35116-suicide-bomber-detonates-leaving-30-dead-outside-quetta-polling-station

لاڑکانہ سے کراچی اور پنجاب سے خیبر پختونخواہ تک سرٹیفائیڈ نتائج نہیں دیے جارہے اور سندھ میں بیشتر نشستوں پر نتائج روکے لیے گئے ہیں

پیپلزپارٹی کے رہنماوں کا کہنا ہے کہ لاڑکانہ سے کراچی اور پنجاب سے خیبر پختونخواہ تک سرٹیفائیڈ نتائج نہیں دیے جارہے اور سندھ میں بیشتر نشستوں پر نتائج روکے لیے گئے ہیں میاں رضا ربانی کا کہنا تھا کہ بعض طاقتیں الیکشن کو متنازع بنا کر محاذآرائی پیدا کرنا چاہتی ہیں جو ملک وقوم کے لیے خطرناک بات ہوگی. وہ پیپلزمیڈیا سیل میں پریس کانفرنس سے خطاب کررہے تھے سینیٹر میاں رضا ربانی اور سینیٹر شیری رحمن نے کہا کہ پری پول رگنگ پر پہلے ہی آواز اُٹھائی تھی ایک تنظیم کے علاوہ تمام جماعتوں کو دیوار سے لگایا جارہا ہے دیہی سندھ میں پیپلزپارٹی حامیوں کو تشدد کا نشانہ بنایا گیا متعلقہ اداروں کے بعض اقدامات سے انتخابات ہر سوالیہ نشان اُٹھ رہا ہے انہوں نے کہا کہ ڈھائی سو سے زائد شکایات موصول ہوئی ہیں جس سے الیکشن کمیشن کو آگاہ کرچکے ہیں خواتین کے پولنگ اسٹیشنز سے زیادہ شکایات آئیں ہم نے پولنگ کا وقت ایک گھنٹہ آگے بڑھانے کا مطالبہ کیا . انہوں نے کہاکہ لاڑکانہ سے لیکر لیاری تک ہمیں سرٹیفائئڈ نتائج نہیں دئیے جارہےلیاری میں ہمارے چیف پولنگ ایجنٹ سمیت دیگر ایجنٹس کو باہر نکال دیا گیا. تاج حیدر نے کہا کہ ہمارے پولنگ ایجنٹس کو کہا جارہا ہے کہ نتائج کا فام باہر چسپا کردیں گے
پولنگ اسٹیشن پر گھنٹے بھر میں چار سے پانج ووٹ ڈالنے دئے جارہے تھے
جب الیکشن کمیشن سے بات کی تو کہا گیا تمام ووٹرز کو حق رائے دہی استعمال کرنے دیا جائے گا لیکن ایسا نہیں ہوا سینیٹر میاں رضاربانی نے کہاکہ پولنگ ایجنٹس کو نکالنا مطلب اپ اپنے نتائج بنارہے ہیں . ملک میں جو بے یقینی ہے اس کا اظہارکرچکے ہیں
فارم 45,46نہ دینا مطلب بے یقینی کی صورتحال ہے. بدین میں پیپلزپارٹی کے ایجنٹس کو نکالا گیا ہے.میر اعجازجکھرانی کے حلقے میں ٹھپے لگائے جارہے ہیں لیاری میں ہمارے کارکنان پر حملے کیے گئے تاج حیدر نے کہا کہ بدین کے پولنگ اسٹیشنز سے پاکستان پیپلزپارٹی کے پولنگ ایجنٹوں کو نکال دیا گیا، ووٹوں کی گنتی کے وقت پولنگ ایجنٹوں کو نکالا جانا قابل مذمت ہے،الیکشن کمیشن عملہ اور سیکیورٹی اہل کاروں کی موجودگی میں پی پی کے پولنگ ایجنٹوں کو نکالا 


https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/

’’پارٹی مشاورت سے جلد لائحہ عمل بنائیں گے‘‘

پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے سینئر رہنما اور قومی اسمبلی کے سابق اپوزیشن لیڈر سید خورشید شاہ کہتے ہیں کہ پارٹی کی مشاورت سے فارم 45 کے مطابق نتائج نہ ملنے پر جلد لائحہ عمل بنائیں گے۔
خورشیدشاہ نے آج منعقد ہونے والے انتخابات کے حوالے سے میڈیا سے گفتگو کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ ہمارے ساتھ بڑی زیادتی ہوئی، الیکشن نتائج کے حوالے سے اہداف حاصل نہیں کر سکے۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ سیکریٹری الیکشن کمیشن سے 2مرتبہ، ڈی آر او سے 4مرتبہ فارم 45 کے لیے بات کی، تاہم فارم 45جاری نہ کرنے سے الیکشن پر شکوک و شبہات بڑھ گئے۔
خورشیدشاہ کا مزید کہنا ہے کہ امیدواروں کو فارم 45 جاری کیا جائے، فارم 45 کو پارٹی کے ایجنٹ کے سامنے بنا کر دیا جائے،فارم45 نہ دیاگیاتوالیکشن پرشکوک وشبہات اٹھیں گےے۔
پی پی پی رہنما نے الزام عائد کیا کہ ہم پر حملہ ہوا، ہماری گاڑی پر فائرنگ کی گئی، بلٹ پروف گاڑی تھی اس لیے نکل آئے،پولنگ اسٹیشن میں پولنگ کےبعد غیر متعلقہ افراد پہنچے۔
خورشیدشاہ نے یہ بھی کہا کہ پیپلزپارٹی کی سینٹرل ایگزیکٹیوکمیٹی کے اجلاس میں صورت حال کا جائزہ لیں گے۔
https://jang.com.pk/news/525792

’’آدھی رات ہو گئی، میرے کسی حلقے کا سرکاری نتیجہ نہیں ملا‘‘

پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری کہتے ہیں کہ آدھی رات ہو گئی، میرے کسی حلقے کا سرکاری نتیجہ نہیں ملا۔
آج منعقد ہونے والے عام انتخابات کے حوالے سے تبصرہ کرتے ہوئے انہوں نے مزید کہا کہ یہ صورت حال ناقابل معافی اور افسوسناک ہے۔
بلاول بھٹوزرداری نے یہ بھی کہا کہ ہمارے امیدوار ملک بھر میں پولنگ اسٹیشنز سے پولنگ ایجنٹس کو نکالنے کی شکایت کر رہے ہیں۔
https://jang.com.pk/news/525730#_

#ElectionPakistan2018Results - 'Inexcusable & outrageous' — PPP, other parties express serious reservations over poll results

Like the PML-N, the PPP and several other parties have expressed serious concerns over the delay in the release of official results and the alleged expulsion of their polling agents from polling stations during counting of the votes for general elections 2018.
PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari termed the situation "inexcusable and outrageous", saying he has not received the official results from any of the constituencies that he is contesting even though it is past midnight.
PPP's Raza Rabbani, Sherry Rehman and other leaders also addressed a press conference to express their reservations over the situation.
Rabbani said: "Throwing out polling agents is a serious issue with serious repercussions. Polling agents are being thrown out in Badin, and results are being withheld in PS-66 Hyderabad."
Rabbani called for the ECP to address the complaints made, and asked for Form-45 to be handed over to winning candidates.
"We said this earlier too, that if the will of the people is manipulated in this way, there will be serious consequences," he added.
Sherry Rehman claimed, "There has been a clear trend of interference, in which all parties except one are being pushed to the wall."
She said that all of Malir's NA results had been withheld, adding that the PPP had received more than 250 complaints. Similar reports have been received from Multan and Jacobabad, she said, warning that the scenario was a cause for alarm.
"The whole election could be declared null and void considering just what has occurred over the last three hours," she claimed.
"Polling agents have to be in the room during the tally for the sake of transparency," she said.
"We expect action to be taken over our complaints by midnight, and for the question mark over the impartiality of these elections to be addressed."
PPP's Maula Bux Chandio claimed that his party's agents were not allowed inside polling stations in Badin. Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) leader Raza Haroon made the same claim about the treatment meted out to their agents at different polling stations across Karachi.

'Counting hasn't even started'

Independent candidate Jibran Nasir tweeted after midnight complaining that counting has not even begun at polling station GBSS Zamzama and claimed that the presiding officer there yelled "go home if you want".
He too has said that his polling agents were sent away without Form 45 from at least six polling stations.
MQM-Pakistan leader Faisal Subzwari claimed that the district returning officers (DRO) and presiding officers in three constituencies of Karachi and two constituencies of Hyderabad were refusing to give Form 45 to his party's agents.
He has also complained that MQM-P's polling agents were not allowed inside some polling stations in two constituencies during the counting process.
Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) president Maulana Fazlur Rehman said he was going to call an All Parties Conference over the "rigged" election results.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders and supporters, in the meanwhile, have kicked off early celebrations in different parts of the country as unofficial results show the party in the lead.

ECP denies allegations

In response, ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh said that all polling agents had been providing Form-45 to polling agents. The form contains the final vote tally at each polling station.
Yaqoob asked all parties to approach the commission with specific complaints against ROs as well as the polling stations where irregularities are allegedly occurring.
He said that the only information he had received so far is that polling agents whose parties are not performing well are leaving the stations without taking the forms, and then saying they haven't received them.
He said that in case any proof is brought forward, action will be taken against all individuals found involved.
The provincial election commissioner in Punjab categorically denied the allegations levelled by the PML-N.
"Political leaders should refrain from levelling such baseless allegations without having any substantial proof," the ECP official said.
Explaining the process, the election commissioner clarified that only one polling agent of every party is allowed inside the polling station at the time of counting of votes.