“I apologize to entire bureaucratic circles in the country whose reputation has been seriously affected by my actions,” he says.
Withdrawing all his allegations related to election rigging, former Rawalpindi commissioner Liaqat Ali Chatha said he was “extremely ashamed, ashamed” and claimed that he had taken the step in coordination with a Tehreek-e-Insaf leader ( PTI) of Pakistan.
“I will take full responsibility for my actions and surrender before the authorities for any kind of legal action,” Chatha said in a statement to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
In a dramatic development last Saturday, Chatha had tendered his resignation, which he claimed was out of “guilty conscience” for inciting large-scale electoral fraud in the garrison city, further raising the political mercury in the country.
The commissioner, in the rare press conference, took responsibility for the “rigging” that he claimed took place in Rawalpindi division. “We turned losers into winners by a margin of 50,000 votes,” he said.
Responding to his allegations, the PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and other political parties (most of which had already rejected the election results) demanded an investigation into the matter.
In the same statement, Chata also accused Pakistan's Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa of facilitating manipulation. Responding to his accusations, CJP Isa demanded the former commissioner to present evidence to support his accusations against him.
However, retracting his allegations, Chatha revealed that all this was done in coordination with the PTI founded by Imran Khan, who had also given him “lucrative positions for me in the future”.
In his statement, Chatha, who has been a civil servant for 32 years, said that after the 2018 elections, when the PTI formed the government in Punjab, he remained posted in senior provincial positions, including provincial secretary to the Punjab government.
“The position of Secretary is among the highest positions in the provincial government. While holding the position of Provincial Secretary, I had opportunities to develop relationships with prominent and senior political figures of the PTI.”
Chatha said that during the PTI's period in power, he had developed a cordial personal friendship with one of the prominent leaders of the PTI.
He said that after the May 9, 2023 incident, like other PTI leaders, the aforementioned prominent leader also absconded from the courts, was declared a proclaimed offender (PO), and has remained in hiding.
“During all this time I had direct contact with him and continued to discreetly help him on various issues. Consequently, my relationship with the said prominent PTI leader evolved into a very close friendship based on a high level of trust.”
The statement mentioned that Chatha, after the February 8 elections, had “secretly and discreetly traveled to Lahore” to meet the PTI leader on February 11.
“It was at this meeting that he made me an offer that if I played a role in supporting the PTI's current narrative of election manipulation and defamation of state institutions, he would secure me a lucrative position in the future.”
Chatha said the PTI leader told him that the entire planning had been formulated after consultation and approval of the PTI top leadership.
More to continue…
