PM rejects possibility of any delay in next general election

ISLAMABAD: Rejecting the possibility of any delay in the next general election, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday said the election would be held within 60 days after the completion of current assemblies’ constitutional term.

He said the name of caretaker prime minister had not been finalized so far, adding, however, if the Opposition Leader gave him a name today he was ready to decide it right away.

The prime minister expressed these views during an informal interaction with the newsmen here at a farewell dinner hosted by Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq in the honor of the country’s 14th National Assembly.

To a question, he was confident that the general election would be transparent. The present government would complete its term, he added.

To another question, the prime minister said the caretaker prime minister could be a retired judge, a retired bureaucrat or a businessman. The name of a retired politician can also be considered for the caretaker prime minister, but it was possible only if that person was not affiliated with any party, he added.

About the political future of former Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister Abbasi said, he (Nawaz Sharif) had a future today and would have the future tomorrow as well.

To a question about the “aliens”, PM Abbasi replied in a lighter mood that as he lived on earth it was better to talk about local species first.

About the reported torture of journalists by police in Islamabad on Thursday, the prime minister said if anyone had done so, he was sorry for that. Every day in Pakistan was a day of freedom of journalism, he added.