Pakistan Army-Imran Khan establishment desperate to crack down on dissent following rigged Gilgit-Baltistan polls

The Pakistan Army led by General Qamar Javed Bajwa, while colluding with Prime Minister Imran Khan, has once again deceived the people of Gilgit-Baltistan by brazenly rigging the recent Legislative elections with people marching out in protest to express their anger.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-Army establishment is desperate to shut any dissent in the Gilgit-Baltistan elections and the combined opposition rallies scheduled for December, says Al-Arabiya Post.

The first move of the Army and Imran Khan's rule was to winning the elections was to install an interim government to oversee the elections without any political consultation and consensus, and the same manner was used in the appointment of the election commissioner.

In violation of election rules, Imran Khan was allowed to campaign in the illegally occupied region, where he promised a separate province, however, there has been no legislative move on that front.

Even the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed dismay and alarm over the malpractices during the elections, as an HRCP team found their entry to polling stations during the counting barred, reported Al-Arabiya Post.

The team reportedly received several complaints from local people, and also found some women candidates getting death threats and some women's orgsations tempted with funding to build their offices in lieu of their support.

Meanwhile, political parties are up in arms over the "theft" of the elections, as Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is threatening a march to the Chief Election Commission's office in Islamabad. The party also pointed out that Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had only been able to garner 24 per cent of votes, while PML-N had managed to secure 25 per cent of votes.

According to Al-Arabiya Post, elections were postponed to facilitate `horse trading`- at least eight candidates from Nawaz Sharif's party were induced to switched sides.

The Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly of the region on Tuesday elected PTI's Muhammad Khalid Khurshid Khan as the new Chief Minister.

The elections were held amidst relentless protest by the people of the region against the Pakistan government's 'illegal occupation' in the region.

India has slammed Pakistan for its decision to hold elections in Gilgit-Baltistan and said any action to alter the status of the militarily-occupied region has no legal basis.

( With inputs from ANI )