The House of Representatives voted 368 to 7 in favor of a resolution calling for the US Congress to investigate allegations of irregularities in Pakistan’s election, calling for interference in the February 8 general election. An investigation has been ordered
Javed Anwar
Washington: The United States House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling for an impartial investigation into allegations of manipulation after voting in the general elections in Pakistan on February 8, 2024. Inclusion emphasized.
According to Dawn TV’, Pakistan’s last general election was affected by the shutdown of mobile internet throughout the country, arrests during the campaign, violence, and unusual delays in the results. This led to the elections being non-transparent.
The issue of election rigging was raised most forcefully by former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), whose leaders were stripped of their electoral symbol ‘Bila’ as independents in the general elections. had to participate while after a legal battle, the intra-party elections of the party were declared invalid by the Election Authority.
During the polling, the leadership of PTI including Imran Khan was restricted, but the candidates supported by him reached the National Assembly with the highest number of success.
The US House of Representatives voted 368 to 7 in favor of the resolution, which called for a full and independent investigation into allegations of interference and irregularities.
The resolution condemned efforts to suppress the efforts of the people of Pakistan to participate in the country’s democratic process, including harassment, intimidation, torture, arbitrary detention, restrictions on access to the Internet and communications, or violation of human, civil, and political rights.
House Resolution 901 stated that this resolution is to express support for democracy and human rights.
The resolution urged the Pakistani government to uphold democratic and electoral institutions, human rights, and the rule of law, saying that the government should provide basic guarantees of due process, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and Pakistan. Respect the freedom of expression of the people.
The resolution condemned any attempt to influence the political, electoral, or judicial process of Pakistan.
Reacting to the development, Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, said that the number of votes cast in favor of the resolution was overwhelming.
In one of his statements on social media, he said that “85 percent of the members of the House participated in voting on it, 98 percent of those who voted voted in favor of this resolution, this is very important.”
