LAHORE: Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique Sunday said that election should be contested on the basis of performance instead of leveling allegations and using abusive language against political rivals. Addressing the inaugural ceremony of residential apartments for class-III and IV employees of Pakistan Railways, he said that using abusive language or leveling allegations against opponents would deepen the rifts.He said that confrontation was damaging for the democratic process and peaceful and transparent political atmosphere was vital forelections. The minister said that numerous allegations were leveled against the PML-N government, adding that load shedding and other issues would have been sorted out had the government been given free hand to work.He said that disqualification of Nawaz Sharif damaged PTI Chairman Imran Khan also and no body earned any thing from it.He said that respect of the vote should be upheld. The minister said nobody can be allowed to convert Pakistan into a ‘banana republic’ so every wrong act should be condemned.He condemned the firing incident at the residence of a judge and said that security forces were probing the incident. The minister urged all the political parties to ensure free, fare, transparent and timely elections in the country, adding that a democratic government should transfer the power to an elected government as per norms of a civilized society. The minister said there was no objection on the election of Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani. He said Pakistan Railways gave protocol and respect to him when he chose it for travelling. He said that it was the responsibility of everybody including politicians to respect each other. The minister said the PML-N government did its best to end load sheddingin the country and added more than 10,000 megawatts electricityto the national grid.He said Pakistan Railways was a national institution and that not a single regular employee had been sacked from the department during the PML-N regime. He said that he was satisfied with his performance,adding that credit of restoring railways went to the officers and workers of the institution. Speaking on the occasion, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that he was a witness of uplift of the railways. He also paid tribute to the railways minister for his contribution in this regard. Published in Daily Times, April 16th 2018.