PAT leader Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has said that it is now proven that the PAT long march of 2013 against the unconstitutional Election Commission and the electoral system based on deal-making was justified and correct thing to do. He said that what to speak of three constituencies, even if 100 constituencies are opened up, the rigged and stolen votes will come out. He said that the PPP-led coalition government did not implement even a single provision of the written agreement signed on the occasion of the long march 2013, adding that the fake assemblies are pushing the country into crisis. He said that he could see tension building up in days to come.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri expressed these views while addressing telephonically the executive council meeting of the PAT Punjab yesterday. The central Core Committee members and the heads of the wings attended the meeting. He said that had our struggle for formation of the constitutional Election Commission and electoral reforms been supported then, the political parties feeling hurt now by system of the deal making would not have had to see such a day. He said that the PML-N has wasted two and half precious years of the nation, adding that the problems facing the nation will not be resolved without fresh election and real mandate. He said that the hundreds of thousands of people raised a slogan of ‘lets us save the state, not politics’ at the historic Minar-e-Pakistan on December 22, 2012 as a mark of their contempt for the rotten system and the Pakistani people staged a peaceful sit-in for four days in January 2013 to rid the country of corruption and corrupt elite.

Dr Qadri said that the then PPP government signed a written agreement with the PAT leadership in front of the whole nation and made some commitments publically only to retreat from them later on. He said that had the PPP-led government delivered on its commitments for formation of the Election Commission and brought about electoral reforms, things would definitely have been different now. He said that none of the provisions of the written agreement was implemented, which has resulted in the most rigged and highly controversial elections in Pakistan’s history. He said whichever political party is raising finger on the highly questionable role of the Election Commission is in fact supporting the aims and objectives of the long march.

The PAT Chairman said that we were subjected to severe criticism at that time through superficial analyses and meaningless commentary, adding that all the questions we raised around the conduct and role of the ECP and the system are proving to be valid and true one after the other. He said that political party, which has benefited the most from the system of loot and plunder is the ruling PML-N, which has knowingly put the electoral reforms on hold for last two and half years and that it has kept the illegal provincial members of the Election Commission imposed on the nation. He said that the status quo politicians want the system to continue the way it is so that they keep on milking the system by holding on to its perks and privileges.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said that we are putting our demands before the nation through media again that if the real democracy has to be established in the country and the people are to be made shareholder in power, then it is important that the Election Commission gets dissolved and new ECP is formulated in line with the constitutional demands; Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution are implemented in letter and spirit; decisions on the electoral complaints are made within the stipulated time; the plunderers of national wealth are not allowed to contest elections and there should be stipulation of one month’s time for scrutiny of the candidate’s applications. He said that it should also be determined in the wake of three judgments of Election Tribunals whether the wickets that have fallen consequently belong to the PML-N or the Judicial Commission, which gave the Elections 2013 a clean chit by declaring it fair and free.