LAHORE: Clouds of uncertainty over the upcoming Senate and general elections once again began to clear on Saturday when two key leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party in their separate addresses said they believed the elections would be held on time.

Both Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani and Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who had recently expressed his doubts over timely holding of the Senate election against the backdrop of the change of the PML-N government in Balochistan, said they were hopeful that the Senate and general elections would be held as per their schedule.

Talking to reporters at the inauguration of first Nadra facilitation desk for business community at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Saturday, the interior minister ruled out any possibility of holding early election and said: “Both Senate and general elections will be held on time. Those demanding early election in fact are conspiring for a long-term caretaker government. Before this July, election is not possible because it needs time for completion of voters’ lists and delimitation.”

Mr Iqbal said he was not the party candidate for the prime minister slot in the general elections. “Nawaz Sharif has already nominated Shahbaz Sharif as the PML-N candidate for the premier’s slot in this year’s election,” he added.

Mr Iqbal is the second federal minister after Saad Rafique who publicly mentioned the name of Shahbaz as the ousted premier’s pick for the party PM candidate if it wins in this year’s election. While Nawaz Sharif has not yet publicly announced his younger brother’s name for the top position, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had recently said that Mr Sharif would never let his brother become the premier. “Becoming prime minister will remain a dream for Shahbaz Sharif,” he remarked.

Addressing the business community, the PML-N minister said the higher economic growth rate achieved during military regimes was artificial. He said the economy was stagnant at three per cent while the IMF was predicting that Pakistan would go bankrupt in 2014.

“When the PML-N came to power it turned the country into a fast-emerging economy. It targeted four areas — energy, economy, education and (the elimination of) extremism — and achieved considerable success.”

‘New senators to take oath on March 12’

Meanwhile, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani addressing law graduates at the convocation of a private law college at Aiwan-i-Iqbal on Saturday sounded confident about timely holding of the Senate election.

He said the Senate election would be held on time in accordance with the Constitution, and new members would take oath on March 12.

Mr Rabbani said that the Constitution did not say anything about the completion of electoral college, and suggested that no action should be taken that could undermine the Constitution. He said all institutions should be respected and it was necessary for their stability. “It is also imperative that the institutions work while remaining well within their constitutional limits,” he added.

The Senate chairman regretted that there had been a law of jungle or martial law in the country. “Whatever laws we had in the past were not the same for those in power and the common man,” he said, adding that everyone should believe in the supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2018