Sit-in politics a conspiracy against free, fair and transparent election: Ahsan Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday said that sit-in politics was a conspiracy against free, fair and transparent general election and it was creating political and economical instability in the country.

Talking to media after attending the 33rd Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists, he called upon the all political forces for working to gather to put the country on fast track economic development and social prosperity.

He said that only five months were left in general election and at that stage some elements were trying to sabotage the whole process for holding the election in a peaceful, free, fair and transparent manner, adding that the conspirators were also trying to create an uneven situation for the Senate election.

Ahsan Iqbal further said that any prolonging interim setup would effect the credibility of next election, adding that all the political parties should strive for ensuring the election on time for the transfer of powers to next elected government second time as according to the law and constitution of the country.

Timely holding of election in a free, fair and transparent manner and transfer of power to next elected government would  give a positive message to world and would restore the confidence.

To a question, the minister said that government had do a lot of work on FATA reforms in order to bring that areas at par with other areas of the country.The aim of delaying the FATA reforms was to crate complete consensus among all the stakeholders by bringing all the political parties on board and bringing complete agreement among them on the reforms.

Besides this he said that government was also working to provide the similar rights to the people of Gilgit Baltitistan as other areas of the country.

To another question, the minister said that fluctuation in dollar value in local markets was due to increasing trend of petroleum prices and some adjustments make in the market, however, he said that it would improve during the days to come, adding that the fluctuation would benefit the local exporters

He said that Pakistan has signed different agreements with different governments of the world for exchanging the prisoners by completing all the legal formalities, adding that the culprits involved in factory fire incident at Karachi would be brought to justice, adding that no one would be allowed to create any law and order situation in the country.