SC ended ambiguity on person giving polls date: Kaira

LALAMUSA: Former advisor to PM on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan and PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira has said the Supreme Court of Pakistan made one thing clear today that the date for elections would now be given by the president.

“We were demanding elections in 90 days and if it was not possible, we demanded announcement of election schedule along with the process of delimitation of constituencies,” he said while talking to media here on Thursday. He said it would have been better if the Election Commission of Pakistan had conducted elections in the last week of January. Now the commission has announced February 11 and there is no problem in that. This will clear the clouds of uncertainty. The ECP, government, political parties and all other institutions should work together to create an atmosphere of cohesion so that people have confidence in the transparency of elections. Due to events happening in past elections, people lost faith in the poll process. When a person does not believe that his vote will form a government, the credibility of the whole system goes down. It is very important to raise awareness among people that to change the condition of Pakistan, it is necessary for the qualified people to reach parliament, so people should vote only for the qualified.

He said political parties could now start preparations for elections. All political parties should be allowed to participate in the political process without interference and people should be appealed to remove the blindfold of prejudice and elect the best people so that better governments could be formed. He said that learning from past mistakes, political parties must shun the culture of vilification and showcase their performance record, thus fostering a more conducive democratic culture.