General elections have been held twelve times in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. There is only one story in these twelve elections and the name of this story is rigging. Pakistan came into being in 1947 and the first general elections were held in 1970. There were a total of 300 seats in these elections. The Awami League won 160 seats and the Pakistan People’s Party 80 seats, but the President of Pakistan, General Yahya Khan, instead of handing over power to the leader of the majority party, Sheikh Mujeebur Rehman, arrested him and launched a military operation.

This operation pushed Pakistan towards a civil war and this civil war turned into the Indo-Pak War. The result was that Pakistan broke up and Pakistan People’s Party, which came second in this broken Pakistan, was invited to form the government. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, had to become the President of Pakistan and the Chief Martial Law Administrator before being sworn in as the Prime Minister because martial law could only be abolished by the Martial Law Administrator.

The History of General Elections in Pakistan: A Tale of Rigging

The important thing about the 1970 election was that General Yahya Khan distributed huge sums of money to other parties against Awami League through Major General Ghulam Umar, which is mentioned in the book of former ISPR chief Brigadier AR Siddiqui. Despite all the efforts, Awami League could not be stopped because Sheikh Mujeebur Rehman had become very popular in East Pakistan due to his imprisonment. The Agartala Conspiracy Case was established against him on the charge of treason against Pakistan, but no charge could be proved against him in the court, due to which he had to be released and he became the beloved leader of Bengalis.

The story of Pakistan’s first general election is very similar to the last election which was held in 2024. Sheikh Mujeebur Rehman was victimized by the Agartala conspiracy case and Imran Khan, the founding chairman of PTI, was victimized by the cipher case. However, a civil judge’s decision in the Kasar-Idt case was overturned and Imran Khan’s critics also started supporting him. The ‘majority’ party did not get the government in the 1970 elections and the ‘majority’ party is not getting the government in 2024 either.

The Curious Case of Muslim League (N): Why Didn’t They Secure a Simple Majority?

According to the election results, the candidates supported by PTI won the majority, but the second-placed party, Muslim League (N), is preparing to form the government. PTI has refused to form the government along with Muslim League (N) and Pakistan People’s Party and MQM. Will try. No one has a simple majority in the National Assembly and this situation has forced the Muslim League (N) to make Shehbaz Sharif the prime ministerial candidate instead of Nawaz Sharif.
The question is that the Muslim League (N) had full support and patronage from the state institutions, but despite this, why could the Muslim League (N) not get a simple majority in the National Assembly? Two days before the elections, Muslim League (N) published the advertisement of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as a headline on the front pages of all national newspapers, but why is Nawaz Sharif not seen as the Prime Minister? Some political analysts had given one hundred and eleven seats to the Muslim League (N) till the night of February 7 and they were claiming with respect to their most respected and effective sources that Nawaz Sharif will be the next prime minister. Why did all these analyzes prove to be wrong? Were the important stars of politics and journalism giving statements by keeping the wishes of their respected and effective sources in front of them instead of the facts on the ground?

Whether someone believe or not, On February 8, 2024, we saw a public wave in favor of Imran Khan in the major cities of Pakistan. On February 8, I was in Karachi. In the afternoon, outside the various polling stations of Lyari, several young people told me that they knew that the Tehreek-e-Insaaf candidate would not win from Lyari, but they had come to vote for the PTI candidate. I asked why you voted for PTI. A young man said that Imran Khan is serving jail bravely, but whenever Nawaz Sharif goes to jail, he makes a deal and runs away from Pakistan.

And Nawaz Sharif gave the impression with his body language that he does not need much effort to become the Prime Minister because his talk has already been done. It would have been better if Nawaz Sharif had invited the party which has the majority to form the government instead of giving a victory speech on February 9, but he claimed his majority. This victory speech further damaged the Muslim League (N) and a Bangladeshi journalist wrote that now Pakistanis should understand what happened to Bengalis in 1971?

Drawing Parallels: Lessons from the 1971 Bengali Crisis

In my opinion, not transferring power to the majority party in 1971 was not a big mistake but cruelty, but there is a big difference between Awami League and Tehreek-e-Insaaf. Awami League was popular only in one province of Pakistan called East Pakistan. PTI is popular in all the provinces of present-day Pakistan. We can find the trend of 1970 elections in 2024 elections, but we cannot call Imran Khan today’s Sheikh Mujeebur Rahman. Sheikh Mujeebur Rahman did not become the Prime Minister sitting on the shoulders of any Army Chief, while Imran Khan became the Prime Minister sitting on the shoulders of an Army Chief in 2018. In March 1971, Sheikh Mujeebur Rahman held a dialogue with National Awami Party leaders Khan Abdul Wali Khan and Ghous Bakhsh Bizenjo, along with Muslim League leader Mumtaz Dalutana. Sheikh Mujeeb also held a dialogue with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto but Imran Khan is currently not willing to dialogue with any major party. If he had formed an alliance with a few smaller parties before the elections, he could have solved the election symbol problem, but he preferred a solo flight.

The Solo Flight of Imran Khan

Despite all the difficulties, through this solo flight, he has pinned his old rival Nawaz Sharif to the wall. The People’s Party has declined to join the new government but will support the government to avoid political instability. The People’s Party has decided to become more infamous by sharing power with the Muslim League-N. People’s Party will play the role of opposition in the National Assembly. Now, if Shahbaz Sharif becomes the Prime Minister instead of Nawaz Sharif, he will face a big opposition in the National Assembly. This opposition has to be taken ‘along’ otherwise the path of revenge may lead to a major tragedy for Pakistan, the responsibility of which will fall not on Imran Khan but on Shahbaz Sharif.

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Barrister Gohar Ali Khan nominated for the Chairmanship of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf.

Senator Ali Zafar of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf says that Chairman PTI has approved the holding of intra party elections, Barrister Gohar will be the candidate for chairman in intra party elections of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

The leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Barrister Ali Zafar, while addressing a press conference, said that the names of many prominent personalities came forward for the elected caretaker chairman of PTI. But it will be a temporary position.

Senator Ali Zafar said that it has been agreed on the name of Barrister Gohar for the elected Caretaker Chairman of PTI.

He said that chairman PTI is a paper work, actually the founder of the party is the chairman, this decision is the result of party strategy, it is not a minus one, he will continue to act as per the instructions.

Senator Ali Zafar said that what Mr. Marwat said was also correct, he had instructed us to first get this decision approved by the party leadership, if anyone in the party leadership has reservations, they will remove it.

He further said that he used the word “caretaker” to describe the role of Barrister Gohar, in my view he will actually remain the chairman.

Barrister Gohar Ali Khan nominated as Chairman PTI

Barrister Gohar Ali Khan has been nominated as Chairman PTI.

According to the details, Senator Ali Zafar while holding a press conference along with Chairman PTI Gohar Ali Khan said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf entrusted me with a responsibility today, I will inform the nation about the intra party elections of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Details of PTI’s Intra Party Elections in 2022

He said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf conducted intra party elections in 2022, recently the Election Commission gave us a notice that you did not conduct the elections, so we will take your bat mark, we went to the Election Commission. And provided details of intra party elections.

Ali Zafar said that the Election Commission said that we are satisfied that you have conducted the elections, but the Election Commission has not issued a written decision. The Election Commission has asked us to conduct intra party elections twice, in our opinion this decision has not come.

Chairman PTI’s Participation in Intra-Party Elections: A Matter of Speculation

He said that the party leadership decided that we will adopt both ways, challenge the decision and also hold intra party elections. Today, I am announcing that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will hold intra-party elections on Saturday. There is a lot of speculation in the media about whether Chairman PTI will contest intra party elections as Chairman or not. Ask for opinion whether I can contest intra-party elections?

He said that the legal team sat down and searched for the answer to the question, a decision was taken against Imran Khan only in the Tosha Khana case, according to us that sentence is also unconstitutional.

Chairman PTI provided 10 TV channels, 9 doctors, eight jail rooms and other facilities.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan imprisoned in Adiala Jail has been given all the facilities in the jail.

According to media reports, according to the sources of the jail authorities, 8 rooms in the jail are being used by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf while 9 doctors are on duty for their food and treatment.

Sources of prison officials say that Imran Khan is shown 10 TV channels.

Jail sources said that the channel is changed every hour while bed, mattress and newspaper facilities are also provided.