Leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Ali Zafar, announced on Thursday that Imran Khan, who is now incarcerated, will write a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) requesting that it halt its funding for Pakistan because of “rigged elections.”
“Today, Imran Khan will send a letter to the IMF.” Zafar told reporters after seeing Khan at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail that “the charter of the IMF, EU, and other organizations stipulates that they can function or provide loan to a country only if there’s good governance.”
According to Zafar, their charter’s “most important section” states that a nation should be democratic. “These institutions cannot and should not operate in those countries if there is no democracy.”
“A free and fair election is the fundamental cornerstone of any democracy. But the world witnessed firsthand how the country’s mission was pilfered. Let’s put pre-election rigging aside; in post-election rigging, the PTI’s victorious candidates were cheated out of victory.
According to Senator Zafar, votes cast by the public were pilfered in the dead of night. He claimed that without first doing an audit of the election results, going to the IMF for a rescue package would be bad for the nation.
He also bemoaned the fact that Bushra Bibi, Khan’s wife, who is being held at the Bani Gala home that has been designated as a sub-jail, has not been allowed to see her husband.
The opposition party PTI has previously attempted to influence the IMF deal. In 2022, Shaukat Tarin, the party’s former leader, advised the finance ministers of Punjab and KP to “tell the IMF that the commitment made to them cannot be fulfilled” and to point to the country’s recent flood devastation as justification.
An IMF program worth $3 billion was obtained by Pakistan last year, helping to prevent a government debt default. It expires next month, and getting a new, larger one is regarded as the next administration’s top priority.
The PTI, along with a few other political parties, have completely rejected the elections and declared nationwide protests in response to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and its allies reaching an agreement to create a coalition government.
The PTI has insisted that Form 45, which represents the results of a single polling place, be used to release election results rather than Form 47, which represents the combined results of a constituency. The party claims that Form 47 was tampered with, and its independent candidates were able to secure a simple majority in the National Assembly.
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