PESHAWAR: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said on Thursday those parties who agreed on show of hand in the Charter of Democracy (CoD) were now demanding secret ballot in the Senate elections, saying that an open ballot procedure would help discourage the menace of horse-trading.
Talking to the media at the provincial office of the Election Commission on the occasion of scrutiny of his nomination papers for the Senate election, he said that measures must be taken to eliminate the menace of horse-trading.
Shibli Faraz said, “Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s stance is clear, and that is to win all its seats according to votes. I will continue to work at the federal level to solve problems. Former governments did nothing for the weak segments of society. The incumbent regime introduced the Ehsaas programme for them. The health sector in Sindh is in a bad condition, and the federal government is distributing Sehat cards there as well without any discrimination.”
The minister said that people had become disenchanted with the negative politics of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), and a defeat in the forthcoming Senate elections would be a final nail in its coffin.
He said opposition parties had got united against open ballot because it did not serve their vested interests.
Replying to a question about media reports regarding Maryam Nawaz’s going overseas, the minister said that the government had adopted “zero tolerance against corruption”, and no one would be given any “NRO-like concession”.
Senator Shibli Faraz said that the right of overseas Pakistanis to vote through electronic voting system would help strengthen democracy. He said KP was a stronghold of the PTI as it was the only party that came to power for a second consecutive term as a result of people’s mandate on the basis of its performance, and it reflected people’s confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said the gap between the haves and the have-nots had widened due to poor policies of the previous governments. The PTI government, however, had successfully implemented an austerity programme in line with the vision of the prime minister, putting the economy back on track.
Meanwhile, the federal information minister, Senator Shibli Faraz, expressed his profound grief over the demise of Senator Mushahidullah Khan.
In his twitter message, Senator Shibli Faraz said the deceased played an important role in upholding the norms of democracy in the country. He prayed for eternal peace to the departed soul and courage for the bereaved family to bear the irreparable loss with fortitude.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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