The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) today announced its plan to file a legal case following the death of a three-year-old boy in an open manhole, attributing the tragedy to “criminal negligence” by the PPP-led government.
During a press conference, the party also alleged massive electoral rigging in a recent by-poll and declared a boycott of the upcoming PS-9 Shikarpur byelection. PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh, addressing reporters at the Karachi Press Club, detailed the incident in Gulshan-e-Iqbal where a three-year-old Ibrahim died after falling in a manhole. He stated that the child’s body was recovered after a 15-hour search by local residents, which he presented as a sign of collapsed civic governance.
“The parents had stepped out for shopping, but the criminal negligence of the PPP government has once again destroyed a family,” Sheikh said. He asserted that the provincial administration and the city’s PPP mayor “cannot escape responsibility,” questioning their failure to provide basic amenities like manhole covers despite receiving trillions in funding over 18 years.
The party will take the “murder case of Ibrahim to court,” Sheikh declared, demanding accountability from senior PPP leadership. “Karachi pays billions in taxes; we will not allow this city to be deprived of basic facilities,” he added.
Shifting focus to electoral matters, Sheikh alleged “massive rigging” in the Haripur by-poll. He claimed that according to Form-45s, PTI candidate Shehrnaz Omar Ayub was leading by 25,000 votes, but the final Form-47 reversed the outcome to a 43,776-vote victory for the PML-N candidate, creating what he termed a “fake swing of nearly 70,000 votes.”
To support this accusation, Sheikh stated that PTI possesses 589 original and verified Form-45s. He characterized the Election Commission”s failure to upload official result forms as an “admission of fraud” and alleged that results were manipulated remotely.
Consequently, Sheikh announced a boycott of the PS-9 Shikarpur by-election and other by-polls, calling the process a “rigged circus where results are prepared beforehand.” The party’s candidate for the constituency, Agha Imtiaz, confirmed he was withdrawing from the contest.
The PTI leader also reiterated grievances from the February 8 general elections, referencing a 300-page White Paper on the subject and noting that 158 election petitions filed by the party remain undecided.
Concern was also raised over the detention of party founder Imran Khan, with Sheikh stating that the “leader of the Muslim world” has been denied meetings for a month. He condemned the lengthy sentences handed to Khan, Bushra Bibi, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and others in what he described as “fabricated cases.”
Dr. Masroor Sial, PTI Sindh General Secretary, accused the Election Commission of playing “the worst role in Pakistan’s electoral history” and said the boycott decision was a response to the “pre-poll rigging situation.”
PTI leader Agha Arsalan added that results are “pre-prepared in by-elections,” which renders the people”s vote meaningless and makes participation futile.