ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs Qamar Zaman Kaira has said that political stability and peace are core for holding free and fair general elections in the country.
Addressing at a press conference here on Monday, Kaira said that at present, judiciary to military have expressed their inability to provide human resource for performing duties owing to various reasons.
He said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan has created chaos and uncertainty in the country which is not suitable for the polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) provinces.
He said that the PTI chief was doing his politics furiously ignoring the country’s overall situation. Kaira said there was a possibility of simultaneous elections in case the processes of census and delimitation were completed.
He said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) could not hold elections, adding the electoral watchdog had to seek help from other institutions in terms of getting security and other personnel.
The ECP also had to take money from the Ministry of Finance. Kaira said: “We don’t want to see the dissolution of assemblies as the country is suffering from severe economic hardships.”
He said that as the judiciary has declined to provide returning officers (ROs) to the ECP for conducting elections in two provinces and the government itself was not in a position to manage it through executive authorities as political parties raise serious questions over such polls. He said that, therefore, delaying election in Punjab and the KPK till general elections was in the best interest of the country.
He said there was a debate sparked in the assemblies, media and decision-making circles due to the postponement of provincial assembly elections in Punjab. Kaira said there was an uncertain situation in the country which was at its peak.
The first goal during such a situation was to make decisions with logic and reason as at present, he said the problems faced by the country demanded the stakeholders to take decisions with patience, vision, and tolerance.
He regretted that on the contrary, everyone was trying to defeat his or her opponents whether it was in the departments or media. The reality has gone obscure and people were left directionless, he said.
The elections in the two provinces were postponed and a huge hue and cry was made on it and termed it a major constitutional violation by the opposition. Kaira said the coalition parties tried to stop Imran Khan from dissolving the assemblies of KP and Punjab but it failed.
“The powers whatsoever enshrined in the constitution are based on some logic and demands from the one who exercise to use it prudently,” he added. He claimed that the Punjab Assembly dissolved by the then CM Pervaiz Elahi was not carried out as per his own will rather on Imran Khan’s whim.
That decision, he said was not based on Elahi’s own free will.
“The election process involves security deployment, management of electoral staff, finances from the Ministry of Finance which is a complete exercise,” he said.
The ECP categorically stated that it was not able to provide mass-level staff deployment to hold elections, he said. He mentioned that the national census was underway in the country and teams were in the field across the country.
The departments concerned informed that due to census, staff was not available, he said adding, “The census is held after 10 years but this time it is being held after seven years. It has been decided in the CCI under then prime minister Imran Khan to hold census in a more transparent and fair manner. So that new polls are to be held under the new census.”
The ECP wrote a letter to the prime minister, apprising him on the fact that the departments concerned had denied aid to hold polls on April 30 due to the census and law and order situation in the country, he added.
The prime minister convened the cabinet meeting that endorsed the situation and the ECP in the light of those facts had delayed the elections, he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023