Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ali Zafar on Friday announced that the party’s founder, Imran Khan, will send a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), urging them to halt support for Pakistan, citing concerns about “rigged elections”.
Zafar stated after meeting Khan at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail that the charters of IMF, EU, and other organizations emphasize the necessity of good governance for financial assistance. He highlighted the crucial role of democracy in their charters and argued that without a democratic process, these institutions should not operate in a country.
“The basic pillar of a democracy is a free and fair election. However, the entire world witnessed how the nation’s mandate was allegedly stolen, not only through pre-poll rigging but also in post-poll rigging,” Zafar said.
Claiming that the people’s vote was taken unlawfully in the darkness of the night, Senator Zafar warned that seeking an IMF bailout without auditing the election results would be detrimental to the country.
Expressing dissatisfaction, Zafar also mentioned the denial of permission to meet Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, who is held at the Bani Gala residence declared as a sub-jail.
This move by PTI echoes a previous attempt in 2022 when ex-leader Shaukat Tarin suggested informing the IMF that commitments made to them couldn’t be fulfilled, citing recent flood devastation as the reason.
Pakistan, having secured a short-term USD 3 billion IMF program last year to avert a sovereign debt default, faces the imminent expiration of the program next month. Securing a new and more substantial deal is considered a top priority for the new administration.
With the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) forming a coalition government, the PTI, along with some other political parties, has rejected the election results, announcing country-wide protests.
The PTI demands that election results be based on Form 45, the results of a single polling station, rather than Form 47, the consolidated results, which they claim were tampered with. Independent candidates, according to PTI, won a simple majority in the National Assembly.
(With agency inputs)