ISLAMABAD: Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar has said the coalition government is ready to hold a grand political dialogue if Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan shows a willingness to bring down political heat.
“Imran Khan should send two people from his side while two people from the coalition government will sit together to discuss things,” he said addressing a press conference on Thursday.
The law minister lamented that during the four-year tenure of the PTI, they did not try to mend relations with the opposition.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader also said that Pakistan is facing serious economic and security challenges as well as political upheavals, which require unanimous views among all the stakeholders, especially the political parties.
The democratic process, he added, is successfully continuing in the country and “we should refrain from paving way for any undemocratic third option”.
Commenting on the elections dilemma, the federal minister said that the simultaneous election for the national and four provincial assemblies is the only viable option to bring political and economic stability to the country.
Tarar, while endorsing the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to postpone the date for general elections in Punjab from April 30 to October 8 — said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) made the “right move” by withdrawing the election schedule.
A day, the electoral body, in a surprise development, announced the postponement of the upcoming elections in Punjab till October 8, initially scheduled to be held on April 30, citing security reasons as the major cause for the change in plan.
Supporting the ECP’s decision, the law minister mentioned that Article 254 of the Constitution provides that when any act or thing is required by the Constitution to be done within a particular period and it is not done within that period, the doing of the act or thing shall not be invalid or otherwise ineffective by reason only that it was not done within that period.
The minister further added that a digital census is underway in the country and its findings will also be compiled in the next few weeks. He said this will address the concerns of the smaller provinces and provide a basis for delimitations of constituencies across Pakistan.
“We should not forget that the country is also facing security challenges on multiple fronts and holding elections requires the massive deployment of law enforcement agencies, which is not possible at this point in time,” he said.
