General polls in country not possible before Oct 2023: IT minister

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information Technology & Telecommunication Syed Amin-Ul- Haq has said that the digital census will continue till March and after that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will need four months for delimitation, so it’s quite clear that general elections in the country are not possible before October 2023.

He stated this while addressing the Internet Governance & Internet Resources Share for Pakistan event organised by Number Resource Society (NRS) at a local hotel here on Wednesday.

The ceremony was also addressed by Lu Heng, Founder and CEO of LARUS Limited, Melvin Cheng, Director Business Development Innovation Service Ltd, Kashif Nawaz, NRS Ambassador, and Mohammed Ismail, Director Pacific Connect Limited.

The federal minister said that if the former prime minister Imran Khan will cross the red line for political reasons, then the country and the nation will suffer.

Syed Amin-ul-Haq said that political unrest is increasing with each passing day and this political unrest is leading the country to an economic crisis. “As a political party, we want stability in the country. In any case, democracy should remain permanent. Law and order should be closely monitored, attempts are being made to destroy law and order in Pakistan in the name of Talibanisation,” he added.

He said that the Ministry of Energy & Power did not contact the Ministry of IT on any possible cyber attack on the power blackout, but the ministry had already explained that it was a technical fault.

The minister further said there is a non-binding offer regarding Telenor. “The Ministry of IT is looking into all these matters. It is our responsibility to protect the rights of consumers and there will be no compromise on the employment of the company’s employees and the quality of service.”

Furthermore about internet governance, the federal minister said the awareness event on internet governance and internet resources share is of great importance for developing economies like Pakistan.

He said, “We have also done efforts to help 5G initiative that will help endorse the multi-stakeholder participation as well as input for internet governance at national and international level.” He said it is good news for the IT industry and freelancers that now the State Bank has issued a circular under which the problems related to banking and account maintaining of IT professionals will be eliminated. There will be no more obstacles in the delivery of services. The telecom sector currently faces the biggest problems with respect to Letters of Credit (LC) due to which they have difficulties in importing their equipment.

As a result, plans for upgrading the system and installing new towers are likely to be delayed. In this regard, we have spoken to the finance minister, 50% LCs are allowed, and we hope the rest of the issue will be resolved soon, the minister maintained.