All parties including PTI are free to join polls: caretaker govt

The interim government has said caretaker prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar’s remarks about elections without Imran Khan during a recent interview to a foreign wire service were “misunderstood and misreported”, state-run APP reported on Tuesday.

As reported by the Associated Press, interim PM Kakar said elections in the country could take place without Imran khan and other jailed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members.

This statement by the premier irked PTI as the party said it would not accept any elections minus Imran Khan.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) also strongly objected to PM Kakar’s remarks.

However, in a statement on Tuesday, the interim government said the premier’s remarks were misunderstood.

“All parties including PTI are free to join polls,” it maintained.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in its official statement issued the text from the wire service to clarify that the premier was plainspeaking to suggest that whereas participating in the elections was a right, but retribution for crimes was legally warranted.

The ministry said the interview had been “twisted by some outlets” to give the impression that someone will not be allowed to take part in the general elections.

It drew attention to the following text of the prime minister’s interview.

“We are not pursuing anyone on a personal vendetta,” Kakar said. “But yes, we will ensure that the law is appropriate. Anyone, be it Imran Khan or any other politician who violates, in terms of their political behavior, the laws of the country, then the restoration of the law has to be ensured. We cannot equate that with … political discrimination.

“Fair elections can take place without Khan or hundreds of members of his party who are jailed because they engaged in unlawful activities including vandalism and arson, a reference to the violence that rocked the country following Khan’s initial arrest in May,” Kakar said.

The caretaker prime minister added that the thousands of people in Khan’s party who didn’t engage in unlawful activities, “will be running the political process, they will be participating in the elections.”

The information ministry reiterated in its statement that PTI and its leaders are free to participate in the elections like any other party.

“It has been clarified that there is no impediment to contesting elections by any leader of PTI or the party as a whole,” it said.

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The statement further added that every citizen is equal before law and the law will take its course with respect to any person currently facing legal charges.

“The courts are free and independent and the caretaker government has neither authority nor intention to influence the courts at any level.”

It was further clarified that any person aggrieved by any order or ruling of a statutory or judicial forum has a constitutionally guaranteed right to approach the next forum in judicial hierarchy for relief.

“The caretaker government is committed to holding free and fair elections. It will support the constitutional and legal structure for holding elections and would ensure that all orders and directions of the Election Commission of Pakistan and independent judiciary are complied with in letter and spirit,” the government said in its statement.