ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday reiterated the next general elections will be held on time.

While addressing the press, he said the elections cannot be held before July-August keeping the relief and rehabilitation activities in flood-hit areas, in mind and also, once the new population census will be held.

He said the result of the new population census will be received in March 2023. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would require at least four months to finalise delimitation across the country, so the time frame automatically goes till July-August 2023

Responding to Imran Khan’s insistence on early elections, he said the next general election will be held in October 2023.

Iqbal said Imran Khan is only threatening the government by calling the “long march” and sit-in which will only sabotage the country’s economy and demoralise certain institutions.

Imran Khan, he said tried to halt the launch of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) back in 2014 when due to his sit-in in Islamabad, the visit of Chinese president delayed that resulted in delay of CPEC project by around 10 months.

Now again, Khan is threatening to call a “long march” when the 11th Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) on CPEC - an important decision-making body - is going to be held by end of the current month.

He further maintained the prime minister’s important visit to China is also likely next month. Any attempt to destabilise the government would harm the CPEC’s progress, too, he added.

Responding to a question, he said the senior leadership of the PML-N could not participate in the election campaign of recent by-elections because everybody was engaged in the restoration activities in the flood-hit areas.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022