Farmers Package: ECP should prescribe punishment for PM: PAT

In his reaction to the suspension of the Prime Minister’s Support Package for Farmers ordered by the Election Commission of Pakistan terming it as violation of electoral code of conduct, PAT Secretary General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur has said that the ECP should also propose a punishment for the PM. He said that the chief executive of the country misused his powers and position to give undue and illegal leverage to his party’s candidates in the upcoming local government elections. He said that following the declaration of the ECP, it is better for the PM to tender his resignation in a show of higher moral conduct.

Khurram Nawaz Gandpur expressed these views while talking to party workers in the central secretariat yesterday. He said that the Farmers Package of the PM is not merely the negation of the electoral code of conduct; rather it is an open rigging and violation of the constitution. He said that the Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution demand the members of Parliament and the public office holders to be ‘Sadiq and Ameen’. He said that the Prime Minister, who is the head of a political party, misused public funds to make his candidates get elected and thus tried to influence the electoral outcome. He said that the farmers were also taken for a ride as well.

Khurram Nawaz Gandapur said that had Parliament and Constitution been superior in this country, the Prime Minister would never have dared to announce such a package by bypassing the Parliament. He said that it appears from the hindsight that the PM does not seem to be eligible to hold public office anymore. He said that declaration of the Farmers Package as illegal by the ECP has constitutes a reference against the PM.