Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has said that we were the first ones to challenge the unconstitutionally composed Election Commission and the appointment of its provincial members in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He said that the then Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry refused to hear our constitutional petition out of his bias and political ambitions. He said that the ruling elite does not give any weightage and importance to the Constitution. He said that had the Constitution been supreme, the illegally formed Election Commission would neither have been imposed on the people nor would the Local Government institutions have been locked for seven long years. He said that Pakistan Awami Tehreek will make oversees Pakistanis, who are so central to the working of economy, get their rightful place. He said that the party will make Pakistan join the league of developed and prosperous countries with the assistance and cooperation of the educated, patriotic and experienced expatriate community.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri expressed these views while addressing the ‘Lifetime Members Convention’ in The Netherlands yesterday. Dr Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri, the leaders and workers of the local organization attended the Convention in large number.

Dr Qadri said that today all political parties are asking the provincial members of the Election Commission to resign from their positions, adding that when we raised our voice in this regard before 2013 elections and even staged a long march and the sit-in in Islamabad, the political parties employed expediencies. He said that the PPP-led government did not fulfil its commitment in connection with formation of the Election Commission according to the Constitution and electoral reforms despite inking a written agreement. He said that the cancer afflicting the democratic, political and electoral system he mentioned on the occasion of the long march has enveloped the whole system later on and this charade continues even today.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said that the Election Commission, having no credibility and constitutional cover, has put the whole country in the state of anxiety and the political parties supportive of the status quo are using this toothless Election Commission for their political objectives through remote control. They still have a desire that the local government polls should be held under the supervision of the remote-controlled members of the ECP. He said that we are convinced even today that the General Elections 2013 were held under the aegis of unconstitutionally composed Election Commission. That is why the whole system resulting from the flawed electoral exercise is fake and bogus. He said that unless the Election Commission is formed in accordance with the Constitution and electoral reforms are brought about, real assemblies, representative of popular aspirations, cannot come into being till such time nor will ‘democratic’ mess be sorted out. He said that we are considering again moving the court of law against the provincial members of the ECP, adding that we would pray to the court to order reconstitution of the ECP according to the Constitution.