Zubair Qureshi Islamabad
Caretaker Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Solangi Tuesday said under Article 218(3) of the Constitution, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is empowered to hold free and fair elections and he was sure the polls commission would fulfill its responsibility to conduct fair, transparent and impartial elections.
Talking to media persons Solangi said there were a total of 280 articles in the Constitution. Apart from the article about elections in 90 days, there was also Article 254, he said. The interim government would support the Election Commission in delegating its duties, he said.
The Article 254 says: “When any act or thing is required by the Constitution to be done within a particular period and it is not done within that period, the doing of the act or thing shall not be invalid or other-wise ineffective by reason only that it was not done within that period.”
He said, “Everyone in Pakistan has freedom to express opinion, complain and criticize,” Solangi added.
The minister said the freedom that Pakistan People’s Party and other parties had been enjoying, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) also had same freedom.
He said that Caretaker PM AnwarulHaqKakar had informed the public about his visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through a video message.
During the visit of Prime Minister, a number of agreements and memorandums of understanding would be finalized, then the media would be informed in that regard, he added.
To a question, he said he had a relation of respect with Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Asif Ali Zardari and he could not comment on their statements.
