Elections To Be Held On Time Despite Terrorist Attacks: Syed Ali Zafar

Minister for Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage Barrister Syed Ali Zafar on Monday said terrorists would not succeed in their nefarious designs and elections would be held on time in a fair and transparent manner.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Jul, 2018 ) :Minister for Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage Barrister Syed Ali Zafar on Monday said terrorists would not succeed in their nefarious designs and elections would be held on time in a fair and transparent manner.

In an interview to Pakistan Television, he said foreign, anti-state and some local forces were involved in the terrorist attacks primarily aimed to delay the elections.

He said the terrorists wanted to harm unity of Pakistan, target politicians and weaken democracy but they would not succeed.

He said terrorism had a history in Pakistan, adding all political forced made the National Action Plan and the country fought war on terror with unity.

As it was time for elections, electioneering could not be stopped, he noted.

The minister said all the relevant agencies made the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and the political parties should be on board with the understanding that SOPs were for their security and not to stop anybody from taking part in the election process.

The minister said candidates should share information about public meetings with the administration.

The minister said all the concerns and complaints of politicians should be given weight, adding it was important that confidence building measures should be taken and candidates should be conveyed that measures were being taken for their security.

The minister said the law was clear that election commission, presently headed by a retired judge, had the full authority to hold fair and transparent elections. The Parliament strengthened the election law for ensuring transparency, he added.

He said if anybody had concerns about elections, he could write to the election commission about it.

Ali Zafar said the caretaker government had the mandate to run day to day affairs and hold fair and transparent elections.

"We cannot start projects and make expenditures but we can take steps of urgent nature." He said the government took up the matters of FATF and merger of FATA.

The government took steps for legislation and other administrative measures to facilitate the merger of FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Ali Zafar said the caretaker government solved different problems and laid down guidelines for the next government which would have a roadmap to move ahead.