ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Tuesday said that the government will ensure holding the next general election through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at all cost.
Addressing the media persons about decisions taken in the Federal Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Fawad said a ministerial committee had been constituted to liaise with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for ensuring implementation of the recently passed laws on electoral reforms.
Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said that the committee would finalize all the nitty-gritty on use of the EVMs in the next election such as cost, numbers of machines and others.
He said that the committee would comprise Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan, Minister for Railway Azam Swati, Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz, Minister for Information Technology Aminul Haq and Attorney General.
The Information Minister said it was imperative that next general election should be and would be held with help of EVMs at all the cost and 9 million overseas Pakistanis would exercise their right of franchise.
The government had reached out to the opposition many a time and asked them to share their suggestions on the electoral reforms as it wanted consensus on the matter, he said while responding to a query.
The entire nation including government, opposition and public had consensus over reforming the existing electoral system, Fawad Chaudhry said, stressing the need for use of the EVMs to end rigging for once and all.
He said it had been observed that a series of seminars were held in Lahore and Islamabad during the last week and funded from abroad.
The Minister Information and Broadcasting said the issue of conferences also came under discussion during the cabinet meeting. The Foreign Office would finalize a policy to take up the issue under the Geneva Convention.
He said the Supreme Court Bar Association, in its press release, distanced itself from the speeches made against judiciary at a conference at Lahore.
Fawad Chaudhry welcomed the step taken by the bar association and said he had already advised them to show impartiality in this matter, besides playing their role as defined in the Constitution.
He appreciated a leading television news channel for releasing a video which exposed the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) ploy against judiciary.
It was not the first time that the PML-N had released such video which solely aimed at pressurizing the judiciary, he added.
Whenever the courts took up cases against the Sharif family, such tactics were opted to pressurize the government and courts, the minister said, expressing the hope that judiciary would reject such pressure.
“This issue should not stop here and those involved in this activity should be taken to task,” he added.
Pointing to negative role of Maryam Nawaz in politics, the minister said she had remained involved in producing fake videos and formed a special team for the purpose.
Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said she might have prepared videos of some PML-N leaders to keep them under her control.
He further stated that in Pakistan’s history, no political party had indulged in any such ‘unholy’ activities like Maryam Nawaz group of the PML-N.
The minister said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) strongly condemned this act and hoped that the issue would reach to its logical conclusion and the government would follow the courts directives on such matter.
Taking a jibe at the PML-N, he said its leadership should thank the government that now sons of Nawaz Sharif would be able to cast their votes in Pakistan’s elections.
About the role of media, he said it was unfortunate that the news were splashed on increase in rates of sugar and tomatoes, but no coverage was given when their prices fell.
Fawad said sugar was being sold at Rs 90 to 95 and it was expected that in coming weeks, the price of sweetener might came down to Rs 80 to 85 per kg.
Prices of tomato, onion and garlic had decreased substantially with the food basket witnessed balance, he added.
He said the government had launched two programmes to provide relief to the masses. The biggest issue right now was high prices of commodities in Sindh, especially in Karachi, he added.
Fawad said after 18th amendment, the federal government could only give policy on certain matters which the provinces had to implement.
Sindh was asked to release wheat and start sugarcane crushing in time but they did not follow the directives, he added.
He said that 40 per cent of inflation data of Sensitive Price Index issued was consist of Karachi figures.
The Information Minister said in Lahore, wheat flour bag of 20 kg was available at Rs 1,100, whereas the same was available in Karachi at Rs 1460.
Sugar price in Karachi was Rs 107, whereas in major cities of Punjab and KPK, the commodity was being sold at Rs 90 per kg.
He urged the media to pressurize the Sindh government so that it could take action for providing relief to the people.
He said the federal government had been importing wheat worth $ 700 million, while on the other hand, the Sindh government said that the wheat was stolen from the province.
Fawad said if the Sindh government failed to take any action then the federal government had to take the matter in its own hands.
