Imran likens ex-CJ to Indian cricket umpire

islamabad — Lamenting former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry’s apathy to petitions questioning the credibility of last year’s May 11 elections, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf chairman Imran Khan has likened the ex-CJ’s attitude to that of an Indian umpire to his appeal for LBW in a match.

Khan said he had requested the ex-CJ audit votes in only four constituencies where rigging was suspected in order to assess the extent of manipulation in the polls.

Khan compared the former CJ to an Indian umpire who refused to consider his appeal against an Indian batsman during a cricket match allegedly ‘in order to secure a win for his team’. That was the time when each side used to have an umpire of its own who would often give partisan rulings.

“When the CJ refused to take up our petitions on plea that he had a huge backlog, I looked into his eyes and found in them the same expression of helplessness as that of the Indian empire who rejected my very confident LBW appeal against an Indian batsman”, Khan said. He claimed that his PTI-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had introduced reforms in police, bureaucracy, health and education after coming into power last year to let people feel that there is an all round change. It held three byelections in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in recent months and there was no complaint of rigging. In contrast, by-elections in Punjab and Sindh were tainted.

He said in the Sargodha constituency, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif secured 8,000 votes at one polling station which had less than 1,500 total registered votes. “If I were in his (CJ) place, I would put all the polling officials behind bars in this case,” Khan said.

The PTI chief said that until the political elite declared their financial assets, it will be impossible to bring a culture of transparency in the country. He said the party had filed a resolution for this purpose.

Speaking out against the recent ‘gift’ of $1.5 billion to the Pakistan government, Khan said ‘the government received $1.5 billion to fan sectarianism and killings on the basis of faith’.