Pattan chief Sarwar Bari alleges home sealed for criticising Feb 8 polls

ISLAMABAD: Authorities have sealed the home of an NGO chief who authored a report alleging widespread rigging in national elections last year, Pattan chief Sarwar Bari told AFP on Saturday.

Polls in February 2024 took place with the nation’s most popular politician Imran Khan jailed and barred from running, and a coalition of parties considered pliable to the powerful military took power.

This month, NGO Pattan published a report on the elections and described them in a statement as “unprecedentedly rigged” with “vote-rigging, fraud and manipulation”.

Torkham border: trade and pedestrian movement comes to a halt

Sarwar Bari — currently in London — said his home in the capital Islamabad was sealed off on Friday night. “This is obviously in response to the report,” he told AFP.

His wife Aliya Bano said the property was closed off by a team of around two dozen including police officers, magistrates and Islamabad administration officials.

A judge’s order to seal the residence, seen by AFP, said Pattan’s registration as an NGO had been cancelled in 2019 and it was operating illegally.

Bari said he often used his residence for Pattan meetings and postal correspondence but was adamant it was primarily his home.

Judges’ seniority list challenged in SC

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in a statement on social media platform X that it was “alarmed” by reports his home had been sealed.

“Such tactics of intimidation against citizens are unacceptable,” the statement said. “The matter should be heard immediately in a court of law.”

Pattan has called for a public inquiry into the national elections which took place on February 8, 2024.

Ahead of the vote ex-prime minister Khan’s party was targeted by a sweeping crackdown, which saw numerous senior leaders arrested and their street campaigning disrupted.

Days before the poll, Khan was convicted of a trio of offences including graft, treason and illegal marriage.

Pakistan to become more prosperous than India, vows PM

Polling day itself was marred by a mobile internet blackout, which Islamabad said was necessary to address security concerns.