Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Saturday said fair, free, and impartial election was the government’s real destination.
Talking to reporters at Noor Khan Airbase before departure on his first official visit to the United Kingdom, he said all political parties and stakeholders were unanimous that the polls would be held on time and according to the schedule.
The PM, who called on President Asif Zardari in Lahore on Friday, said they discussed the current political situation, besides holding of fair, free and transparent elections and its schedule. He said dialogue and discussion would continue with other political parties to evolve consensus on transparent polls as it is the future of the country.
The PM said all political parties were unanimous and determined that the elections will be held on time and held out the assurance that there would be no delay in any case in the general elections.
He said it was very encouraging that the democratically elected government was going to complete its tenure and added that this would further strengthen democracy and boost morale of the political forces in the country.
Referring to his first four-day official visit to the UK after assumption of his office in June 2012, he said it would further enhance the existing friendly relations between the two countries.
He said Pakistan attached great importance to its relations with the UK, which is an important member of the European Union. The UK was Pakistan’s second largest trading partner in the EU, he added. He said the bilateral trade reached around $2.99 billion in 2012, with the balance of trade in Pakistan’s favour.
Raja said sustained efforts were needed to achieve the target, set under Pak-UK Trade and Investment Roadmap to raise the level of trade to 2.5 billion pounds by 2015. He said the visit would also provide an opportunity to reiterate Pakistan’s interest for inclusion in the GSP plus in 2014.
The UK, he said, has been an important development partner of Pakistan and it has provided generous humanitarian assistance in the aftermath of 2010 and 2011 floods.
The prime minister said under the new UK Operational Plan for Pakistan (2011-2015), almost 1.4 billion pounds had been allocated for Pakistan, primarily in the education sector.
This makes Pakistan the largest recipient of UK development assistance in the world, he added. He said Pakistan appreciated this assistance package, which was announced during British Prime Minister Cameron’s visit to Islamabad in April 2011.
The Prime Minister said, “I shall hold a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss issues of mutual interest.”
He said the meeting would provide an opportunity to identify ways and means to further raise the level of bilateral cooperation and discuss important regional and international issues.
The PM said during his stay in the UK, he would also interact with Pakistani diaspora, media and British lawmakers.
Free, fair, polls real destination of govt: PM
