ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz on Wednesday said that the government was making efforts that all elections, including the general and Senate, should be held in a transparent manner.
Addressing a news conference after the weekly federal cabinet meeting, he said that Prime Minister Imran Khan pointed out that after the 1970 election, there had always been objections about the electoral process. The minister cited the recent United States elections where two presidential candidates had a problem over the process, but after developing consensus on electronic voting the matter was resolved.
He recalled that the electoral reforms were carried out in 2017 but the committee, headed by Ishaq Dar, ignored the issue of electronic voting. “We want that the elections should be transparent and impartial,” he said, adding that overseas Pakistanis were rendering great services for Pakistan, as well as sending substantial foreign remittances.
In the next elections, he said, overseas Pakistanis would be given the opportunity of electronic voting so that they could have a voice and could participate in the country’s polling process.
Faraz said that the prime minister took strict notice of the increasing incidents of sexual crimes against women and children despite the passage of Zainab Alert Bill and issued directions to the relevant authorities to take measures to stop such incidents.
He informed that the inheritance bill was meant to protect the legal rights of women and to aid in obtaining a succession certificate. Â “Now the system had been revamped and the heirs of a deceased person could get a succession certificate in 15 days,” Faraz added.
He stressed that the case for transparency in the Senate elections was also in the Supreme Court (SC). “Now the nation knew who wanted the elections on the basis of merit and capability, and who continued the past practice of use of money,” he commented.
Replying to the questions of media persons, Faraz said that Prime Minister Imran directed the law minister to immediately reactivate the bill on the issue of missing persons, as the issue ought to be redressed after drastic fall in terrorist acts.
He said that the issue was raised in the cabinet meeting by Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari, who gave a complete overview with regards to the proposed legislation.
Faraz said that the prime minister gave a directive to the law minister and recalled that he himself had visited such sit-ins about missing persons to show solidarity with them.
The families and relatives of missing persons “only have one demand, which is to know whether their loved one is alive or not,” he added, noting that laws should be made for the issue.
“PM Imran Khan has given clear instructions to activate the draft bill on this immediately,” the minister said.
The minister pointed out that almost every country did face security issues but there had to be a mechanism in place.
Replying to another question, the minister clarified that, at the time of no-confidence vote against incumbent Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, he was the leader of the house and knew that the chairman had personal relations with Senators and they voted for him.
He added that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government believed in the principle of continuity of the chairman, as never in the history had a Senate chairman been removed in this manner.
He said that the opposition had just resorted to rhetoric instead of forming committee like the PTI had and finding out who had crossed the party line. In comparison, he pointed out the PTI sent 20 of its MPAs home for violation of party discipline.
He asked why the opposition did not do so, adding that this showed that the opposition’s conduct was hypocritical.
About the price hike of essential commodities, he pointed out that various factors caused it. When PTI formed this current government, there was no governance, there was a huge gap between revenue and expenditure, and then coronavirus also played a role in damaging the economy.
Faraz stated that there were also some fundamental structural issues and that certain clauses of the 18th Amendment also needed to be looked into.
He said that the government opted for a 25 per cent increase in basic pay of its employees. He then referred to the massive contrast between the lifestyle and governance of Prime Minister Imran and the previous premier from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
He cited statistics to show that the expenditures of the Prime Minister Office (PMO) and the Prime Minister House had been massively reduced while PM Imran did not have a single camp office, whereas, in the past ten years of PPP and PML-N regimes, there were several camps, which incurred billions of costs, besides deployment of thousands of policemen in the name of security.
The minister explained that the Prime Minister House and Prime Minister Office expenditure, which stood at Rs509 million and 514 million in 2018 was brought down to Rs339 million and Rs305 million next year and then further cut to Rs280 million and Rs334 million, respectively.
All this reflected that the past governments considered themselves above the law and the masses, he added.
Faraz also noted that while past rulers would have their entire family and friends staying in PM House, Prime Minister Imran lived in his own residence. He also spent far less on his important foreign visits, unlike the past rulers. He added that there were no discretionary grants to be used for giving away gifts during PTI-led government tenure.
He said that that austerity steps showed that when the country and its people were in a difficult time, their prime minister also understood it and practised it.
When asked about the nomination of Federal Minister Faisal Vawda for the Senate elections, who was facing a disqualification case in the Election Commission, the minister said that the matter was yet to be decided but the party leadership decided to back him in the Senate for PTI as they had very few members who could speak in his bold manner.
