Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Nisar Ali Khan on Monday said the government wanted to secure majority in the coming general elections at the cost of the media’s independence.
Talking to reporters at the Parliament House, he said the government was contemplating bringing new legislation in the name of media guidelines to curb media’s independence which, he added, was not a good omen.
He said the opposition would raise its voice in the House against the government’s plans against the press.
Commenting on the recently-held by-polls, Nisar lashed out at the government for holding “rigged” elections.
He accused the government of being biased, saying rigging in the by-polls had brought back memories of Musharraf’s era.
He said a candidate of a political party had trampled political norms and laws of the country by attacking the polling staff.
Referring to the incident in Tando Muhammad Khan during the by-election, Nisar said if the government was interested in promoting such political trends in the country, it was better to hand the country over to mafias.
Lamenting over the incident, he asked the civil society, human rights bodies and election commission to take notice of the incident.
He hoped that the now independent election commission would take serious notice of the incident involving beating of a polling officer at the hands of a candidate.
He accused the Pakistan People’s Party of using official resources to win by-polls and also criticised the prime minister for campaigning for elections in Multan for the past four months.
He asked the election commission to take notice of the irregularities in the by-polls.
Nisar also criticised the government for considering imposing radio tax on the people.
He warned that if the government continued with its anti-people policies, the opposition would not let President Zardari address the joint session of the parliament with ease.
