The demand for early elections is unreasonable and it is being preferred by those people who have done nothing during the last four years except for deriding and denigrating the state institutions and churning out lies unabashedly. This was stated by Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb while talking to the media outside the Accountability Court and a private news channel here Tuesday.
The minister said that some parties were trying to obstruct elections by generating controversy about them. She observed that Imran Khan was doing power show of impudence, abuses and uncivilized behaviour in his public rallies every evening and casting aspersions on the state institutions to make them controversial. She posed a question as to why no action is taken against him. The minister pointed out that in his public meeting on Sunday Imran Khan had alleged that a certain Brigadier manipulated electoral victory for PML (N) in Punjab adding why no notice was taken of those who were making the institutions controversial and soiling their reputation? The minister said that the armed forces were fighting against the terrorists and on the frontiers.
She said that Sharif family was showing deference to law, constitution and the courts by appearing before them while one person indulged in denigrating them every evening with impunity. The minister said that despite false allegations Nawaz Sharif and his family appeared before the court. She observed that the JIT had collected heaps of papers from around the world, but a single proof of corruption against Nawaz Sharif who twice served as Chief Minister Punjab and had the distinction of being elected Prime Minister of Pakistan thrice could not be produced and in the end the verdict was delivered on the basis of 'Iqama'.
Marriyum said that efforts were being made to create the impression that Sharifs were running away from the courts, but Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law had appeared in the court as they had nothing to conceal. Quashing the impression about PML (N) wanting to foment confrontation with state institutions, she said that the PML (N) was pursuing a policy of stability, because its leader and mentor was himself a very stable personality. She said that the party, though, had a certain position on what was happening.
The minister reiterated that everybody knew the situation that the country was confronted with in 2013. She said that Nawaz Sharif was an elected Prime Minister who worked with unruffled dedication to winch the country out of the quagmire that it was stuck into. His performance was before the entire country but he was sent home in the last year of his mandated franchise on the basis of 'Iqama'.
Marriyum pointed out that they were still trying to ferret out incriminating evidence and it was being said that the process of Mutual Legal Assistance was still to be completed. The minister responding to a question about criticism of Imran and Zardari said that PML (N) wanted the elections to be held on time while one party wanted early elections and the other held the view that the elections should be conducted on the basis of 1998 census, which was a calculated attempt to delay the elections and make them controversial.
The minister replying to a question about Ishaq Dar said that he had been attending the court proceedings along with his attorney and now his absence was due to his medical condition. Answering another question she said that Ishaq Dar was still looking after the administrative affairs of the Ministry of Finance, which were running as usual.