Election time in the Senate, the prestigious upper house of the parliament of Pakistan. As 48 seats were contested between 132 candidates there were bound to be some tensions. Cries of horse-trading and allegations of bribery were made even before the election had taken place. The Senate elections are no stranger to such allegations as rivals point fingers at each other, suggesting that contestants are influencing the lawmaker’s use of article 59. Often wealthy business owners are made a victim of these allegations and this election was no different.
Amongst the victims was Senator Waqar Ahmed Khan.Belonging to the Khan family of Dera Ismail Khan, Waqar has a long list of family members who have been elected to the upper house and have also served Pakistan dutifully. Being elected to the Senate four times previously, he along with his brother Senator Ammar were amongst the most experienced of contestants. In this election, Senator Ammar was contesting as a representative of Aftab Sherpao’s Qaumi Watan Party while Waqar was an independent candidate. Having never lost a Senate election before the Khans have had a history of immense support from the lawmakers.
This time the elections did not go in the Khan family’s favor and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf decided to victimize them. Embarrassed by the rigging allegations made by Nighat Orakzai and the willingness of their own lawmakers to support non-PTI candidates the,PTI to cover up had to practice their norm of coming up with baseless allegations. With no evidence to back their claims, the PTI chief Imran Khan alleged that Senator Waqar had tried to influence the voting proceedure through the process of horse-trading and by offering bribes to his party’s lawmakers. When it is a known fact that Waqar Ahmed Khan had informally withdrawn himself from the election.
What is surprising to see is that even the PTI cheif’s nephew, Hassan Niazi chipped in with the allegations. According to him the elderly Senator Gulzar Khan is a “crook” who tried to buy PTI MPAs” and he even called for a strike outside Senator Gulzar’s family home.
As the PTI now claim that the QWP was involved in horse-trading scandals, it is known to all that the Cheif Minster of KPK had made numerous attempts to win their support. After staging an all out sit-in, in the capital for four months against the ruling political party(PML-N) The PTI displayed their hypocrisy by forming an alliance with them to ensure victory in the Senate elections.
With time the policy of the PTI has become evident: Defame the rest and claim to be the best.
There is certainly nothing right about making accusations without the evidence to back it. As the Khan family quietly accepts their defeat, the PTI hungry for power make another allegation.
