ISLAMABAD: A written statement of former commissioner Rawalpindi Division Liaqat Ali Chatha, who reportedly remains detained at an undisclosed location, has surfaced in which he has retracted his recent presser wherein the bureaucrat levelled serious allegations of massive rigging against Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja.
“In the end, I feel extremely ashamed and embarrassed for making totally false, concocted, anti-state and malicious statement in the press conference.
This activity caused embarrassment for me, as well as, for entire bureaucratic fraternity. I apologise to the entire bureaucratic circles of the country whose reputation has been seriously dented by my actions, I take full responsibility for my actions and surrender myself before the authorities for any kind of legal action,“ reads the former commissioner’s written statement to the secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in connection with related inquiry launched by the ECP.
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Chatha, according to his written statement, developed cordial personal friendship with one of the prominent leaders of Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) when the political party was in power.
“After the incident of 9th May 2023, as with other leadership of PTI, the said prominent leader of PTI also absconded from courts, was declared as a proclaim offender (PO) and has been hiding. Throughout this time, I had direct contact with him and I kept on discreetly helping him on various issues,” the statement said.
“After the general elections of 2024, I secretly and discreetly travelled to Lahore and held a meeting with him. It was in this meeting, that he made an offer to me that if I play a role for supporting the PTI’s ongoing narrative of rigging in general elections and maligning state institutions, he would ensure a lucrative position for me in future.
He informed me that this entire planning had been formulated after consultation and approval of the senior leadership of PTI,“ according to the written statement.
“Since my unwarranted press conference on 17 February 2024 has already created lot of chaos and mess in the country, therefore, I have abstained from naming the relevant individuals in my above statement,” the former commissioner stated.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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