Change of government possible only through vote: Chandio

Federal Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Senator Mola Bux Chandio has said the forces which always played a role in derailing democracy have now understood the importance of strengthening the federation.
"A government can be brought to or removed from the power only through democratic ways by holding a free and fair elections," he said while addressing lawyers and talking to the media at District Bar Association hall, here on Tuesday. Chandio was critical of what he described as the blame game unleashed by the leadership of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N).
"While they raise fingers at us with accusations of ineptitude and corruption, they themselves are ruling the biggest province, which is rife with complaints about their governance," he said alluding to the PML-N's government in Punjab. Unlike the past, he said, the PML-N could not raise itself to the power by the slogan of 'jaag Punjabi jaag'.
According to him, the people of the country had greater awareness and that they could not be exploited for ethnic reasons. The minister although emphasised that the general elections would be held after completion of the 5 years term of the government but also ruled out the possibility of not holding them early.
"It depends on what the situation warrants," he said in reply to a question. When asked why the government was not facilitating the arrival of Mansoor Ijaz, the prime mover of the memogate controversy which led to the matter being taken up at the apex court, Chandio responded "all what was being sought has been assured."
"The government had assured to put in place whatever security measures were asked by his (Ijaz's) lawyer," he said and added that the security woes were not the only reason for Ijaz not coming to appear before the Supreme Court's Commission investigating the memo issue. Chandio believes that there might be some other reasons and not the security alone which were not revealed by Ijaz or those who represent him which were barring his arrival.
Talking about the 20th amendment and creation of the new provinces in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the federal minister negated the impression that the move was a conspiracy to divide Sindh. He reiterated that the demand in the Seraiki area for a province of their own was several decades old, adding that the Seraiki area had their own history spread of several centuries.
"Same is not the case with Sindh," said Chandio explaining that Sindh for thousands of years had remained a single entity dominated by Sindhi culture and language. "There is also no demand from within the province for division," he said. However, the minister stressed the need for giving the national status to all the languages of the country, especially those spoken by a sizable number of the population.
He praised President Asif Ali Zardari for courageously steering the country out of multiple crises, which came one after the other. Earlier, the minister inaugurated the renovation work of the district bar association's library for which he had given a special grant of Rs 1 million last month.
The lawyer leaders including district President Sindh High Court Bar Association Advocate Allah Bachayo Soomro, President Hyderabad District Bar Association advocate Nisar Durrani and others also spoke on the occasion. They expressed their gratitude to the minister for financially supporting the upgradation and renovation of the library.