ISLAMABAD: Opposition-led Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) could not gain the trust Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) people, despite long election campaigns, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said here on Monday.
The minister while addressing a presser thanked the people of Gilgit-Baltistan for giving the PTI nine seats of the assembly.
Faraz said the people did not buy the narrative of the PDM and Nawaz Sharif, and voted in favour of the PTI in the election of Gilgit-Baltistan resulting in victory of PTI with a majority.
He said the people and candidates in Gilgit-Baltistan took part in the elections and the democratic process, and those who were campaigning in Gilgit-Baltistan for a month lost the elections.
The minister said opposition claimed that the elections would be a referendum but the people rejected it in the polls. The people of Gilgit-Baltistan voted with a democratic mindset for their progress, prosperity, development, and a bright future.
The information minister said the senior most leadership of opposition campaigned for the elections but failed to gain the trust because they had nothing to brief, on which basis they were seeking votes, he added. He further said the PPP and PML-N in their 10-year tenures did nothing for the people in the sectors of education, health, and industry.
He said that the media fully covered the election campaign with their cameras and teams.
The opposition talking about rigging before, and after the election is "baseless".
Shibli stressed that the elections were free, fair and transparent, adding the PTI could have win more seats, if the opposition's claims of rigging were accepted. He said opposition only considered those elections fair in which they win. Opposition did the same thing in 2018 and cried about rigging without giving any proofs, he recalled.
The minister said the PTI waged struggle for transparency in elections and it raised the issue of rigging in 2014 in the Election Commission, the Parliament, the courts, and four constituencies were opened on its demand. Shibli said leaders of the opposition parties did not want to pursue allegations of rigging. He alleged that the Sharif family, ministers of the PML-N, and its second-tier leadership were involved in corruption. Now the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the anti-corruption department with the permission of the courts would go after corrupt people in the political parties.
Maryam Nawaz was beneficial owner of Avenfield Apartments in London and faced charges on which many people were disqualified, he observed, and said the opposition built a narrative of political victimization, while Nawaz Sharif was acting as a don.
Shibli said PTI would ensure rule of law in the country and it would go after the corrupt. The PTI government was observing austerity and nobody was living a lavish lifestyle in the Prime Minister's House as happened in the past, he added.
To a question, he said the government will bring further changes in the election laws to introduce electronic voting and show of hands in the election in Senate as a part of its efforts to make the process transparent.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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