Pakistan top court sets up commission to probe election fraud

Three-member panel will investigate allegations of vote rigging.

Karachi:  Pakistan’s top court on Wednesday set up a judicial commission to hold an inquiry into allegations of systematic manipulation of results in the last general election held in May 2013.

The three-member commission was formed a day after the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights wrote a letter to the court under the recently-promulgated General Election 2013 Inquiry Commission Ordinance, 2015.

The 2013 election witnessed the country’s first ever democratic transition of power from one civilian government to another and brought Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to power for a record third term.

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, however, accused the ruling party of rigging the elections with the help of then Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and caretaker governments.

In August last year, Khan led tens of thousands of supporters from Lahore to Islamabad, where he staged an unprecedented 126-day protest sit-in. The protest came to an abrupt end in December after the horrific massacre of 132 children at a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.

According to a statement issued by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the three-member commission comprising Chief Justice Nasir ul Mulk, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Amir Hani Muslim will hold its first meeting on Thursday.

Opposition leader Imran Khan congratulated his party’s workers and the nation for the formation of the judicial commission.

“At least the next elections will be free and fair due to the findings of the judicial commission,” he told a press conference in the southern city of Hyderabad.

“We will now focus our attention on local government elections which were essential for the empowerment of people at grass-root level,” he said.

Under an agreement signed by Sharif's party, the Pakistan Muslim League, and opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on April 2, the commission will complete its findings within 45 days.

It would determine whether or not the last general election truly reflected the will of the people and in case the commission determines that the election results did not reflect the true mandate of the people, Sharif will be bound to dissolve his government and call a fresh election.

Source: UCAN