Senate elections: ‘Time to check sale, purchase of votes’

RAWALPINDI: Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed Sunday said all the political parties should sit together and decide about the Senate election votes in order to avoid the process of sale and purchase of votes.

He was speaking at a ceremony here in which he accused PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif of paying $750,000 to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

"I had already predicted that they [the opposition leaders] will not submit their resignations and that’s exactly what happened," he said, say media reports. Sending a message to the Pakistan Democratic Movement's chief Fazlur Rehman, Sheikh Rashid said the government was ready to participate along with Fazl in the Kashmir solidarity rally.

"I respect whatever Fazlur Rehman said during the PDM's rally in Karachi," the interior minister said. Referring to the PDM's anti-Israel rally, he said since the government was not taking any steps to recognise Israel, Fazlur Rehman had "wasted people's time by organising anti-Israel rallies".

He dared the opposition to announce the date of its long march and said the government will not cause any impediments to them. “We will rather welcome them,” he said. Speaking about the opposition's stance on the Senate elections, the interior minister said, "Bilawal Bhutto can bring a no-confidence motion in the Senate a hundred times, but he should remember that when the PPP had 66 members in the Senate, then 11 of them had gone missing.

Shedding light on the country's economic situation, Sheikh Rashid said he stood by Prime Minister Imran Khan and believed in his vision. He expressed hope that the government will control inflation this year.