Gohar Khan says PTI won't boycott elections despite SC verdict

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Barrister Gohar Khan said Monday his party would not boycott the February 8 general elections despite the Supreme Court’s ruling to strip it of the bat symbol.

“PTI will issue a list of candidates with their respective electoral symbols within three days,” he said, urging voters to support them.

The statement from Barrister Gohar comes after a three-member Supreme Court bench led by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP’s) Dec 22 decision to invalidate the PTI’s internal election and revoke its bat symbol.

Members of the party will now run as independent candidates with different electoral symbols, and the party has no longer the right to reserve seats for women and minorities.

Barrister Gohar, speaking to media outside the Adiala Jail today, told media persons that the SC verdict affected Pakistani people’s fundamental rights.

He lamented that a conspiracy against democracy has succeeded, and it will lead to a new wave of corruption.

In a related development, PTI withdrew its petition on Monday from the SC seeking a level playing field in the upcoming general elections.

PTI lawyer Latif Khosa told the chief justice that his party will approach the people’s court in this matter, adding that instead of a level playing field, the entire field had been taken away from PTI.

“Do you want to continue this case or not?” asked CJP Isa.

Khosa replied that he had been directed to withdraw the plea.

Last year, the party filed an application in the SC to get a level playing field in the general elections amid reports of hurdles in the filing of nomination papers.