Former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Minister Taimur Jhagra said on Wednesday that there was an unprecedented level of pre-poll rigging in Pakistan and such questions were not likley to be seen as credible.

Speaking in Faisla Aap Ka on Aaj News, Jhagra said that the party was busy on so many fronts that it had not paid attention to the matter.

He said that while there were concerns over the CEC, no more experiments could be afforded if elections were to take place on time.

Jhagra said that nomination papers were being snatched away from candidates. He said there would be no greater injustice to Pakistan than to hold such elections.

He also denied the impression that the PTI had relatively more freedom to campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that while things were worse in Punjab, the party had only been allowed one gathering in Peshawar.

PMLN Leader Musadik Malik said that it was curious that both the SCBA and PBC had issued statements on the same day.

He said that if the date of elections has finally been decided, everyone should strive to hold the elections at the given date.

Malik added that Nawaz Sharif had only been allowed to contest one election in the last 25 years despite being responsbile for most of the country’s development.

He said that the elements involved in May 9 should be separated from politics. He said Pakistan had a slow process but the matter was being investigated properly.

Jhagra said that while no election in Pakistan had been free of controversy, this level of pre-poll rigging had not been seen in his life time.

He also discussed parallels with Donald Trump and events of January 6 adn questioned how many people had been tried in jail.

The former minister said that PMLN was desparate because it had no manifesto and no economic credibility.

He said that people who were still sticking with PTI must have some resilience.

Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said that there was often talk of truth and reconcilation in Pakistan because every party had suffered at some point.

He said that unless there was acceptance regarding what had happened there was no way forward.

Khokhar said that people involved in May 9 should be prosecuted but the rest of the aprty should not be persecuted.

He added that the charter of democracy had involved the parties agreeing that they would not use the establishment to come into power.

Malik said that the questions should have been asked when PMLN leaders including Khawaja Asif and Khawaja Saad Rafique had spent hundreds of days in jail.

He said that not raising voices then but raising them now, meant that the argument was lopsided.

Jhagra said that there was an impression that the West had decided that elections should take place in Pakistan but did not care how they took place.

He added that it was worth wondering what this sort of election would lead to in Pakistan’s future.

Malik said that Ali Zafar’s statement on IMF seemed like a threat if taken in context of previous statements from PTI.

He added that what IMF will do is its own concern and Pakistan should concern itself with transparent elections.

Khokhar said that Pakistan fluctuates between a colony and a banana republic. He added that truth and reconcilation cannot take place unless old wounds were healed.