Interim Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Arif Nizami on Friday urged all political parties to respect each other’s mandate and avoid making general elections controversial.
Responding to a question at a news conference in Lahore ‚ the minister said elections were held‚ by and large‚ in a fair and transparent manner.
He said there have been complaints about irregularities in elections and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is taking care of them as re-polling or recounting has been ordered in several cases.
The information minister said the caretaker government had fulfilled its responsibility of holding elections in a transparent manner.
He said despite a host of challenges including the most significant threat of terrorism‚ elections were held and no major untoward incident took place on May 11.
He said the caretaker government was able to maintain law and order on polling day without blocking mobile phone service as was repeatedly done in the past, harming commercial interests of companies and creating problems for users.
Nizami said the next stage of transfer of power would be completed as soon as the ECP completes formalities, especially official notification of victorious candidates.
He said the future political scenario was now almost clear since the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had attained simple majority in the National Assembly to form the government at the Centre.
“The party has also achieved majority in the Punjab Assembly while Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) would form the government in Sindh. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in cooperation with Jamaat-e-Islami would form the government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) while there are indications that PML-N would form the government in Balochistan with the help of other parties,” said Nizami.
The federal minister said as result of elections‚ democratic institutions would be strengthened. He said for the first time a smooth democratic transition was taking place in Pakistan.
Referring to the forthcoming visit of the Chinese premier to Pakistan‚ he said it was economically and strategically a very important visit.
Nizami said the interim government instituted an endowment fund to help families of journalist who laid down their lives during performance of their professional responsibilities in conflict zones.
Nizami urges parties to respect each other’s mandate
