KARACHI: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) on Thursday said that the general elections were rigged the most in Sindh, where constituencies were made at the behest of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Addressing a protest sit-in against the rigging in front of the provincial election commission office, JUI-F Sindh chief Maulana Rashid Mahmood Soormro said that the party had decided to launch a nationwide protest movement against the ‘fraudulent’ election across the country.

He said that the district returning officers (ROs) and returning officers (ROs) were appointed on the directives of the ‘wadera shahi’ (feudal lords) to benefit the PPP. “On the day of the polling, the state institutions, Election Commission of Pakistan, ROs and DROs looked helpless in front of the provincial government officials,” he said.

Maulana Noorul Haq, Maulana Zareen Shah, Habibullah Andhar, Sharafuddin Andhar and others also addressed the protestors.

Maulana Soomro said that police, Rangers and Army had not been deployed in the constituencies under the influence of waderas and the mandate of the people of Sindh was left at the mercy of the landlords. “Records of the worst rigging have been set,” he added.

The JUI leader said that the provincial chapter of the party was launching a protest movement against the ‘rigged’ elections from Friday (today) and workers from Ghotki, Kashmore and Sukkur would close the Sindh-Punjab border for an unannounced period.

He said the JUI’s mandate had also been stolen in 2018. “The forces have no tolerance for religion and politics of bearded and turbaned people in Pakistan and they are gradually trying to reduce our number in our houses,” he said.

The JUI leader said that the role of the ECP had been controversial since the first day of the local government elections as well as the general elections as constituencies were demarcated according to the will of the PPP.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2024