Pakistan NGO chief who alleged vote rigging has home sealed
Sarwar Bari’s report alleged widespread rigging in national elections last year, when a coalition of parties friendly to the military took power
Pakistani authorities have sealed the home of an NGO chief who wrote a report alleging widespread rigging in national elections last year, he told Agence France-Presse 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”.
Pattan chief 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 said.
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 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.