‘Show some grace and step aside,’ Imran Khan's party tells 'mandate thieves' amid talks of govt formation in Pakistan

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The incarcerated former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf party Wednesday rejected the attempts by two of the country's party's trying to form a coalition government, warning that robbing its public endorsement by the "mandate thieves" will result in the worst political instability.

Almost two weeks after the February 8 general elections that delivered a fractured mandate, there was finally a breakthrough late on Tuesday night that could end the political impasse in the country, newswire PTI reported.

Much to the chagrin of Khan and his party independents backed by his Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won majority seats at the National Assembly - the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have agreed on a power-sharing deal to form a new coalition government.

PML-N's Shehbaz Sharif has been nominated as the prime minister candidate while PPP's Asif Ali Zardari is for the president's office. The PPP said it will not join the federal cabinet but the Senate chairman will be that of the PPP.

Reacting sharply to the late-night political developments, the PTI said it "completely rejected the attempts to create a spectacle of PDM-2 in the country by collecting the people's rejected mandate thieves."

Earlier on Tuesday, Khan had slammed the powerful establishment and his political opponents by terming the country's election process as the 'Mother of All Rigging' and demanded that the people's mandate that was "stolen" from his party must be returned.

On Wednesday, the party posted its official statement on X handle which said, the PTI "completely rejected the attempts to create a spectacle of PDM-2 in the country by collecting the people's rejected mandate thieves."

"Enslavement of the nation by robbing the public mandate will result in worst political instability," it said, adding, "Despite the unjust imprisonment of Imran Khan, the taking away of election symbols and not being allowed to campaign, the people have given a clear majority of 180 seats to Tehreek-e-Insaf."

"Respect the vote," the party urged its rivals.

The state decision-makers should be aware and instead of bulldozing the people's mandate in the centre and Punjab, issue the results as per Form 45 and give the right to form the government to the people's elected majority party, it said.

Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, who is the chairman of PTI, warned that "history is a witness that every time an attempt was made to run the state without needing the 'constitution' and democracy, the homeland was engulfed in crises and accidents knocked on our doorstep."

In a lengthy post on X, the party chief criticised the election commission's role in the February 8 polls.

"Through the criminal alteration of the election results is a "recipe for disaster in every sense," he wrote.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will "fulfil the duty of guarding the mandate of the people and will raise its voice with full force at all levels to protect the sanctity of the people's vote, God willing," he added.

PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan said that the PML-N-PPP agreement for sharing power "is a despicable example of how state interests are bartered by this criminal mafia to advance their personal gains and those of their partners in crime."

"While the nation is still licking the wounds inflicted by the PDM1 concoction, PDM2 has been imposed to further deepen the gashes. And this potion has been brewed by blatantly and shamelessly blocking the people's mandate and depriving the PTI of its seats in the assemblies through a vile operation conducted by the night," Hasan said.

Party's senior leader Asad Qaisar said that the PTI had won 180 seats in the National Assembly and 220 in the Punjab Assembly but the "mandate thieves" have deprived Khan's party of about 90 NA seats over 100 seats or Punjab Assembly through massive rigging/result change.

Qaisar also said that the PTI will fight at every forum to get back its stolen mandate and added it is a shame that a party (PML-N) having just 17 NA seats out of a total of 266 is going to form the government.

"Show some grace and step aside from the government," Qaiser said while speaking with media persons outside the Adiala Jail at Rawalpindi where Khan has been lodged since last year, Dawn.com reported.

Meanwhile, throughout the day, PTI kept posting photos and images through a long thread that showed posters with names and pictures of Returning Officers (ROs) who, the party claimed "stole Pakistan's mandate."

"There shall be a trial for Article 6 on all of them for stealing the constitutional right of people's right to elect their leaders," the party declared. (With inputs from agencies)