Jamaat-e-Islami Deputy Chief Liaqat Baloch has demanded the Punjab election commissioner to hold free and fair local government elections in Punjab.

The demand was made during Baloch's meeting with Punjab Election Commissioner Ghulam Israr Khan at his office on Thursday. Baloch said it was responsibility of the ECP to conduct elections according to the schedule and not to become a partner of governments in their unconstitutional acts. He said the provincial governments were using delaying tactics in conducting the local bodies' polls, depriving the masses of their basic rights. Meanwhile, JI Deputy Emir Dr Farid Paracha expressed concern over the performance of disaster management departments during natural disasters in different parts of the country.