PM, Nawaz on same page over democracy

Ashraf assures PML-N chief polls will be held on time; also holds talks with ANP chief.

ISLAMABAD:

In a rare phone conversation, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Friday assured Nawaz Sharif, the eponymous chief of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), that the general elections would be held on time.

Premier Ashraf added that the government was committed to holding free, fair and transparent elections as per the law and Constitution. He said that compatibility among the democratic forces of the country was proof of their political wisdom. He also assured Nawaz that all necessary steps would be taken to achieve the objective of holding the elections on time and in a transparent manner.

In the phone call, which was initiated by the prime minister, they discussed at length the prevailing political situation in the country. The two leaders also agreed that democracy was the way forward and that Pakistanis would not allow any attempt to derail the democratic process in the country.

Nawaz added that Pakistan had lived through the horrors of the so-called slogans of revolutions and long marches. But he said that the best way to ascertain the people’s wishes was through the ballot box.

Ashraf noted that the restoration of democracy owed itself to the arduous struggle of political forces. He claimed that the democratic process needed continuity to evolve.

He reiterated that it was sign of political maturity that all political forces were on the same page as far as the need for a continuity of the democratic process was concerned.



Phone call to ANP chief

Meanwhile, Premier Ashraf also made a phone call to Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan and the two discussed the prevailing political situation.

The ANP chief assured the prime minister of all possible support and said, “My party would stand by the government without applying any conditions and regardless of any kind of decision to save democracy, as it is the need of the hour.”

Earlier on Friday, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, President of the Pakhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) also met Premier Ashraf and discussed the important political developments in the country.

Achakzai said that Pakistanis had struggled long and hard to establish democracy in the country. He warned elements trying to derail the process that they should not treat democracy as a hoax, and if any attempts were made to jeopardise it, all political forces would join hands to resist it and turn the entire country into a ‘Tahrir Square.’

Achakzai urged Prime Minister Ashraf to take necessary measures to hold fair, free and impartial elections on time.

Responding to Achakzai’s remarks, Ashraf stated that elections were a symbol of trust of the people of Pakistan and they would be held on time as stipulated under the Constitution.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5^th, 2013.