Delay in holding elections will be disastrous for country: Iftikhar

NOWSHERA: Awami National Party (ANP) general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Saturday said that any delay in holding of the general elections would be harmful for country.

“Any undue delay in the holding of the general elections would be disastrous for the country,” he told a ceremony in Dag Besud here.

The nationalist politician said that the country was facing grave challenges and the country would suffer if the elections were postponed, he added.

“All the political parties should unite and reject any delay in holding of the general elections,” he said, and asked the Election Commission and other institutions to play their role in holding the timely elections in the country.

Mian Iftikhar also criticised the increase in the fee for obtaining computerised national identity cards (CNIC) and termed it a bid to deprive people of casting votes in the upcoming general election. He said that to issue CNICs to people was the basic right of every citizen and a requirement but lamented that the government was trying to make money out of it as if it was a business. He said the ANP rejected the increase in the fee for CNICs.

He also expressed concern over the blocking of CNICs and delay in unblocking of CNICs. Iftikhar said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) provincial government had failed to deliver and its change was limited to posts on social media and statements in the national media.

“The claims of bringing about a change in the province are far from the truth,” he added.

He said that the people got disappointed due to lack of vision and hollow pledges of PTI government and hoped they would vote for ANP in the forthcoming general elections.

Mian Iftikhar lamented that the province was deprived of its due share in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). “The CPEC has literally been turned into ‘China-Punjab

Economic Corridor,” he went on to say.