Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said on Monday that mobile disruption during elections was not a new thing as it was happening throughout the years, adding that mobile service suspension was the cause behind the delay in the announcement of the election results which did not necessarily “mean rigging”.

Addressing a media press briefing today, the caretaker PM said it took 36 hours to compile the results of the recently held general elections. Only a few hours after the voting concluded, news emerged of the elections being rigged.

He added that there was a projection of “unverified figures” by the media houses.

He said no one had any idea how long it takes to compile results from over 90,000 polling stations but were speculating about late results coming out and rigging.

Access the updated results of Pakistan’s General Elections 2024 here

“These things happen in real time and one needs to be reasonable […] we need to follow the set procedures and that is what is democracy.”

While answering a question whether results by the Election Commission of Pakistan coming out late was due to the suspension of mobile phone services, Kakar replied,“There were large reports throughout the country that terrorists were planning to sabotage the whole [voting] process.

So what was the choice with the government? To save itself from so called accusation of meddling in the elections or go for protection of the people? We chose the second.“

He further said that the mobile services were down and not internet, adding that the idea was never to manage information on any social space or other.

Meanwhile, Kakar said peaceful protests are a part of democracy. “But no government can allow protests that lead the country towards anarchy,” he said.

Moreover, PM Kakar said the caretaker government continues to hold talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), adding that “the caretaker government has very good relations with the IMF”.

“They are appreciative that we achieved our tax targets and the rest,” he said.

Regarding a new deal with the IMF, Kakar said the new government would take the lead on that.

While talking about criticism from US lawmakers regarding the general elections, the caretaker PM said that it was “not that big a deal”.

US Congress members do not represent the gospel truth and are not the pedestal of do and does not.“

He said there were other important issues for them to comment on.