Anyone dealing with governance has to rely on military to meet challenges: caretaker PM Kakar

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has said the only institution that has organisational capability left in Pakistan is the military and anyone who is dealing with governance has to rely on it to meet the challenges.

The interim PM made these remarks while shedding light on civil-military relations in Pakistan during an interview with international media, state-run Radio Pakistan reported on Tuesday.

“Pakistani political leaders had alliance with military for their own interests and once they are out of power, they start criticising the institution to shift the onus of their own failure,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kakar said the country is entering the electoral process and the time span given to the interim government is “according to the law and the Constitution”.

Elections to be held in last week of January: ECP

He vowed to conduct free and fair elections, ensuring no organisational or institutional involvement in favour of any party.

The interim prime minister said delimitation of constituencies was a constitutional demand.

“We should abide by this regulation if we believe in supremacy of the Constitution,” he said.

To a question about the May 9 incidents, Kakar stated that people have the right to express their sentiments under prescribed law, but the government cannot allow “vandalism” in the name of protest.

“If people are going to turn violent then that kind of situation is not acceptable under any democratic system,” he maintained.

Regarding alleged US involvement in Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief’s ousting from power, the caretaker premier said PTI members have “retrieved from that allegation.”

In some Asian states, political leaders sometimes do such acts for populist reasons, Kakar said. “PTI chief was ousted constitutionally and there was no military coup against him.

“As a responsible caretaker government, we ensure that no one can meddle with our domestic affairs,” the interim PM stated.

Talking about terrorist attacks and relations with Afghanistan, the caretaker prime minister said Pakistan has been facing such attacks almost for fifteen years.

“We are trying to counter it by kinetic and non-kinetic measures and we have been successful to manage that to a certain level.

“We are dealing with different layers of authorities in Afghanistan and some are spoiling the peace. Some banned organisations like TTP have training camps in Afghanistan, which is a point of concern for us,” Kakar said.

He expressed hope that there would be engagement with Afghans despite some challenges as “it is in common interest of both the nations”.

On domestic politics, the premier said political differences shouldn’t be converted into enmities. “This practices leads to the death of the democracy.”

Replying to a query about Pakistan-India relations, he said Pakistan is quite open to a meaningful dialogue with all neighbours.

“We do want peace with India, but only peace with justice,” he said, adding that India should resolve the issue of Kashmir on the basis of UN resolutions.