Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman on Tuesday said a caretaker setup would take over the reins of the government after March 18 and general elections would be held per its schedule.
Talking to reporters, he said the consensus caretaker setup would be finalised before mid March, if not, the decision of the Election Commission in this regard will prevail.
“The government does not want to destroy its good deeds of the last four-and-a-half years by delaying elections and such rumours are being spread by the opposition.”
“Delaying elections is not possible in the presence of an independent judiciary, a vibrant media and the civil society. Opposition is spreading such rumours to preempt its looming defeat,” he said.
Criticising the PML-N leadership, Kaira said the PPP had not compromised on principles despite having troubles in the past while the Sharifs had preferred inking a 10-year exile agreement with former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf to save their skin.
To a question, the information minister said the government did not believe in victimising its opponents. “One cannot pinpoint even a single example of political victimisation during the last four-and-half-a-years. He said in comparison, the Punjab government was busy in victimizing its political opponents. Kaira referred to the registration of cases against a PPP MPA, Shaukat Basra in this regard. To a question Kaira said, the members of PPP had accepted the nomination of Manzoor Wattoo as their provincial president. “Some PPP workers have reservations about the alliance with the PML-Q, however, this is not an issue in such a big political party.”
The information minister urged the institutions to work within their limits.