Massive rigging in Pakistan elections

 By Justice Markandey Katju

The election results for the Pakistan National Assembly held on 8th February show a confusing picture. If the elections had been free and fair the PTi, whose leader Imran Khan has popular support of 80-90% of the people of Pakistan ( as all opinion polls indicated ), would easily have swept the polls.

At first it was announced that Imran Khan's PTI was leading by a big margin.

Victory celebrations were started by PTI supporters all over Pakistan..

But then things changed drastically and dramatically.The counting of votes was mysteriously stopped by the Election Commission for a long time, and strong attempts were made in the meantime to do massive rigging, evidently at the behest by the Pakistan Establishment. Now some sources say that Nawaz Sharif's PMLN is leading, though by a thin margin.

International observers were not allowed to witness the polls

Mobile services were suspended

By a dishonest verdict of a bench of the Pakistan Supreme Court headed by that crooked judge Qazi Faez Isa the PTI was deprived of its party symbol.

The entire effort of the Pakistan Establishment ( meaning its army ) has been to oppose the PTI by putting most of its leaders and many of its workers in jail, and creating all kinds of obstacles in their holding meetings, and install the corrupt Nawaz Sharif as the Prime Minister again. By no means will the Pakistani generals, who are steeped in corruption, allow Imran Khan and the PTI come back to power again, as then it will be called to account for its huge corruption and other misdeeds.

I had said that the elections will be massively rigged by the army and other state agencies, and then some kind of civil war will begin in Pakistan

This apprehension may well come true. The results of the elections have been massively rigged.

Terrible times may be coming in Pakistan.

(Justice Katju is a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India. These are his personal views.)