Elections will be held on Feb 8, reiterates Solangi

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Solangi on Wednesday reiterated the commitment that general elections would eventually be held on February 8 in the country.

Talking to the media, Solangi said that in the past, elections were conducted even in the worst conditions.

Solangi pointed out that the current situation in the country was much better than what it was in 2008 and 2013.

He said that the government has been in constant contact with the Election Commission of Pakistan since the first meeting of the caretaker cabinet, the official news agency reported.

The minister said the communication with ECP was underway on daily basis and his visit was part of the routine communication process. He said he had not met Chief Election Commissioner Raja Sikandar Sultan.

Solangi expressed the optimism that security situation in the country would further improve in the coming days.

He said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ECP would provide information regarding the foreign media teams’ arrival in Pakistan for election coverage.

To a question, he said that election activities would hopefully pick up momentum after the announcement of the candidates of the political parties as all parties were commencing their election campaigns now.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has also announced a rally to start its election campaign on January 15, he said and added that election activities would further accelerate in days ahead.

Replying to a question, he said that technical problems regarding the internet had been surfacing even before the caretaker government. The minister clarified that the reason for the recent internet outage was just technical, and not the political. He said that more details regarding the internet shutdown could be obtained from Pakistan Telecommunications Authority.

Solangi said that the portfolio of the Ministry of Interior was held by Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar. He said that under the Rules of Business, when there was no minister nominated for a ministry, its portfolio would be with the prime minister.