PPP, PML-N refute claim of talks with govt

Key leaders from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Monday refuted a claim of Prime Minister’s Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan that the government and opposition met last week to discuss the electoral reforms.

Soon after the news conference by Awan along with Railways Minister Azam Swati on Monday, the opposition parties were surprised and even went on to question the credibility of the claim as well as the government’s intention to take along the opposition on electoral reforms.

At the news conference, Awan said that the government had contacted and met with the opposition last week following the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan, adding that the government was ready to take confidence-building measures on electoral reforms.

“No meeting of the PPP has taken place with Babar Awan or anyone else in the government on electoral reforms,” PPP Parliamentarians Secretary General Farhatullah Babar said.

“The PPP stands behind ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan) and with other opposition parties in rejecting the EVMs (electronic voting machines),” he added. “If Awan claims that a meeting took place then it is for him to say when, where and who attended,” Babar threw the gauntlet to Awan.

Senior PPP leader Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, went on to question Awan’s credibility, saying: “His [Awan’s] statement has no value or importance”, adding that the government was not serious in the electoral reforms. PM doesn’t even want to talk to the leader of the opposition,” Bokhari said. “If he [PM] is serious then he should talk to the opposition leader.”

Similarly, former PML-N Sindh governor Mohammad Zubair, while denying the meeting between the government and the opposition said that “Awan is just giving a spin” as “there is no truth in his claim that a meeting took place between the government and the opposition”.

Zubair, who is the spokesperson for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, questioned if any such meeting took place then what is the secrecy around it. “We are standing with ECP,” he said.

Despite repeated attempts, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb was not available for comments.
In the news conference, Awan while sharing the news about the government-opposition meeting said that “if anyone denies [about the meeting] then I will reveal names as well”.

“We contacted the opposition last week after talking to Prime Minister Imran Khan … we sat down with respectable people from opposition; they [opposition] said that government should take confidence-building measures,” Awan continued.

For the past few months, the government has been pushing to hold the next general elections via EVMs and advocating for i-voting and granting the overseas Pakistanis the right to vote in the elections. The government ministers have lashed out at ECP and doubled down on their criticism after the poll body raised 37 objections on EVMs.

On the other hand, the opposition parties say that the government was resorting to “threats” because it had no other valid case for the introduction of EVMs, accusing it of stooping too low. On the government’s salvos against the ECP, the opposition parties have announced to defend the ECP and CEC in and outside parliament.