PML-N Senator Rana Sanaullah on Sunday reiterated the government’s offer to the opposition PTI to hold dialogue and resolve the long-standing political crises marring the country.
Speaking to the media in Faisalabad, Sanaullah said, “We are still in favour of politicians sitting together at a table to resolve issues.”
He recalled Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s “unconditional offer” he made in August to all political parties to become a part of the ‘Misaq-i-Istehkam-i-Pakistan’ (Charter for Stability of Pakistan).
Sanaullah was speaking to reporters as by-elections were underway today in PP-116, where his son-in-law Ahmed Shaharyar is contesting as the PML-N candidate.
On the PTI’s official boycott of most of the by-elections, Sanaullah said, “Imran Khan sahib is not even doing politics. He has never done politics. It is this country’s and the public’s misfortune that he was brought [into power].”
Sanaullah, also the PM’s political aide, assailed Imran for “always creating a deadlock”, while “democracy progresses through dialogue”.
“A person is sitting in jail, and from there he wants to spread chaos, anarchy and fitna (evil) in the country, and there are also examples of May 9 and Nov 26 present,” he said, referring to Imran and the PTI’s protests.
Weeks of negotiations between the government and the PTI in December last year failed to achieve any tangible results on major issues back then, as both parties accused each other of derailing the negotiations.
Late last month, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said there were no negotiations or talks ongoing between the party and the federal government or the military establishment.
Speaking about the by-election, Sanaullah said there had been “no complaints” from anywhere in the constituency regarding the polling process, dismissing allegations of rigging and disturbances in different constituencies.
“We hope that people will vote for service, progress and solutions to their issues,” Shaharyar’s father-in-law said, adding that PML-N was the only deserving party for that.
On the low voter turnout, the senior politician contended that while general elections usually recorded a turnout of 50 to 60 per cent, by-polls only witnessed a 25 to 30pc turnout on average.
Sanaullah added: “There should be no such incident as Oct 12, 1999 or 2017/2018 when a conspiracy was done against Pakistan and a project was launched, which injected the culture of hatred [… and] enmity into politics.”
The senator said, “I contested seven elections in my constituency, out of which I won five. So my performance is in front of everyone. And as far as rigging is concerned, the voting process is being carried is in front of you, and the counting will take place in front of you.
“But despite that, if someone wants to cry foul, and if someone has started crying foul since yesterday and today morning about rigging, then we have no solution for that,” he added.
“The era of development has returned in the name of Maryam Nawaz Sharif,” Sanaullah said, referring to the Punjab chief minister’s election last year.
The PML-N leader also highlighted that the party halted certain development projects in Faisalabad in line with the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) campaigning rules.
“There were projects worth Rs70 billion to be started in Faisalabad, including a metro project and a scheme to supply fresh water to the entire city. But we requested to halt it for the time being and proceed after the election so that people cannot say we only did that for the sake of elections.”
Meanwhile, Information and Broadcasting minister Attaullah Tarar stated that PTI was boycotting the majority of constituencies in the by-elections, cautioning that the move was bound to carry political repercussions.
Talking to media Tarar stated that political boycotts carry inevitable costs, emphasizing there was no room for such decisions in democratic practice.
In Lahore, unusually large crowds gathered at polling camps, while Dera Ghazi Khan reported a steady flow of voters throughout the day. Elderly citizens, young people and women turned out in significant numbers, reflecting broad public participation in the electoral process, he said.