Let’s sit to talk out issues, Tarar invites Imran

ISLAMABAD: Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar Thursday said the coalition government was ready to hold a grand political dialogue if the PTI Chairman Imran Khan showed his willingness to bring the political temperature down.

“Imran Khan should not pave way for the third option and send two people from his side, while two people from the coalition government will sit together to discuss things,” he said while addressing a press conference here.

The law minister lamented that during the four-year tenure of the PTI, they did not try to mend fences with the opposition.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) leader also said Pakistan was facing serious economic and security challenges as well as political upheavals, which required unanimous views among all the stakeholders, especially the political parties.

The democratic process, he added, was successfully continuing in the country and “we should refrain from paving way for any undemocratic third option”. Commenting on the election dilemma, the federal minister said simultaneous election for the national and four provincial assemblies was the only viable option to bring political and economic stability to the country.

Endorsing the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to postpone the general elections in Punjab to October 8, he said the decision was the “right move”.

In a surprise development, the ECP announced the postponement of the upcoming elections in Punjab till October 8, initially scheduled to be held on April 30, citing security reasons as the major cause for the change in plan.

Supporting the ECP’s decision, the law minister mentioned that Article 254 of the Constitution provided that when any act or thing was required by the Constitution to be done within a particular period and it was not done within that period, the doing of the act or thing shall not be invalid or otherwise ineffective by reason only that it was not done within that period.

The minister added that a digital census was underway in the country and its findings will also be compiled in the next few

weeks. This will address the concerns of smaller provinces and provide a basis for delimitation of constituencies across Pakistan.

“We should not forget that the country is also facing security challenges on multiple fronts and holding elections requires massive deployment of law enforcement agencies, which is not possible at this point in time,” he said.