Daily Times

LAHORE: Caretaker Minister for Information, Broadcasting, National Heritage and Energy Syed Ali Zafar Sunday said the accountability court decision against former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz would not affect holding of the general elections on time.

There was no provision in the constitution regarding postponement of the elections, which would be held on July 25, 2018 as per the schedule, he said during Meet the Press Programme at the Lahore Press Club.

To a question, the minister said they (Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz) would be arrested on their return to Pakistan, if not provided any relief by the court. It was a responsibility of everyone to obey the court orders, he added.

He said law was equal for everyone. As per the constitution, the government should not interfere into the working of institutions, rather it was responsible for implementation of the court decisions instead of criticising the same. He assured that the caretaker federal government would never influence the institutions, including the judiciary and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Regarding reports of placing names of Asif Ali Zardari and his sister on the Exit Control List (ECL), he said it was the government’s responsibility to assess each and every case in that regard in the light of rules and regulations.

He said the committee formed by the interim government on the ECL had discussed around 60 cases and sent its recommendations to the federal cabinet for a final decision.

Responding to a query, he said the name of Zulfi Bokhari was included in the ‘blacklist’. “Had his name included in the ECL, he could not have gone abroad without the cabinet’s permission,” he added.

About the media access to polling stations and booths, the minister said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had prepared the code of conduct for the polling day, and so far two meetings had been held with the ECP in that connection. The government was making efforts to ensure access of the local and foreign media to the polling process, besides facilitating the foreign election observers, he added.

About the water issues, Ali Zafar said despite climate change, water was available in three main rivers of the country, but unfortunately, only two mega dams had been built since inception of Pakistan, contrary to the 1965 water report that suggested construction of 14 to 20 dams.

He stressed the need for building new water reservoirs, adding that other countries spent 20 to 25 percent of their development budget on the water sector, but Pakistan had allocated only five to seven percent on that count.

Published in Daily Times, July 9^th 2018.