Commission in half an hour if Imran wants: Dar

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar on Saturday said the government could form the judicial commission in half an hour to probe the alleged rigging in the 2013 general elections if the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) was ready to resolve issues.
Addressing a press conference here, Dar said the PTI had concerns over the use of only two words for the formation of the judicial commission.
“The matter can be resolved in half an hour if Imran Khan sits calmly and reviews the whole situation seriously,” the minister said.
Ishaq Dar, who also heads the government’s team for talks with the PTI, said the commission would be formed within the parameters of the Constitution.
He alleged that the break in dialogue was because of Imran Khan’s statements. “Khan deems the elections transparent only if the outcome is in his favour.”
He said the government had already sent the proposed draft of the ordinance to all the political parties for setting up the judicial commission.
He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would accept the commission’s findings if there was any rigging or theft of the mandate in the general election.
“There were some systematic flaws in the election due to the negligence of the polling staff and on that basis it was not right to blame any political party for the rigging,” he added.
He said the PTI should participate in the Senate election throughout the country, as it made no sense if it participated from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa only.
Dar said the government had not responded to Imran Khan’s press conference held in Jeddah on Friday due to the day of mourning announced by the government on the death of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.
“The PML-N was serious about setting up the judicial commission under the Inquiry Commission Act and it had written a letter to the Supreme Court in this regard on August 13 2014. However, the PTI asked us not to form the commission under the Act and we accepted their demand for the issuance of an ordinance for the purpose.”
He appreciated the PTI leadership’s statement that the party would return to the assemblies after the formation of the commission. He however expressed his reservations about news that the PTI would participate in the Senate election only from KP. The party, he said, should participate in elections throughout the country.
Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman was also present at the press conference.