Sherry Rehman blasts govt for attacking ECP

Islamabad: The PTI government’s comments and allegations on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) are completely disgraceful, said PPP Vice President Sherry Rehman.

In a statement, she said a constitutional institution has refused to bow down to their demands so, they want to burn it down? Do they want to dispense with all democratic norms and get on with their model of one-party authoritarianism.”

She said, “Accusing the ECP of taking bribes and rigging is inappropriate behaviour. Instead, the government should satisfy the ECP over the 37 objections that they have raised on EVMs, which are all valid and legitimate concerns. The government needs to realise that even one objection on the EVM can make the whole election controversial”.

“The ECP is not obliged to hold elections according to the government’s whims. It is an independent institute and the PTI led government cannot dictate it. The ECP has already explained that EVMs cannot guarantee transparent and free elections as they can be easily tampered with. The government should explain how they are so sure about the machine’s transparency,” she added.

PPP Parliamentary Leader in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman concluded by saying, “We have had many problems with the ECP in the past, but have never used such language nor shown such malafide intent. Time and again this government has shown us their utter disrespect and disregard for the institutions. Threating to burn down constitutional institutions is not how a country is run. This behaviour is condemnable and they must apologize”.