ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi said this week that general elections next month would bring about much-needed political stability in Pakistan, weeks before polling takes place in the South Asian country.
Economically troubled Pakistan heads to the polls on February 8 amid a rise in security challenges and a macroeconomic crisis that has seen its foreign exchange reserves plummet and its national currency weaken against the US dollar.
The South Asian country has been wracked with political instability ever since former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted from office in a parliamentary vote in April 2022. Despite speculation in the media, the caretaker administration has assured masses that the general election would be held across the country on February 8.
“When it comes to political stability, it will be achieved through the popular mandate and we should wait for the results of the elections,” Solangi told the Indian English language news channel WION.
“Once people speak their mind when they go to polls to elect a party or a group of party I am sure we will get political stability.”
On the issue of Pakistan’s relations with its neighbors, the minister said Pakistan and India can address longstanding disputes once the two countries have elected governments in place this year.
“Once we have elected governments in both countries and they get fresh mandates, we can hope that they will discuss the issues including long-standing disputes both the countries have since three-quarters of a century,” he said.
Solangi said relations between Islamabad and Kabul would depend “squarely” on the actions and behavior of the Afghanistan government.
“If they continue to harbor terrorists including TTP, I am afraid the future of those relations does not seem to be too bright,” he said.
Elections in Pakistan were originally expected to take place in November after the country’s national and two provincial assemblies were dissolved in August before their tenure expired. However, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decided to redraw hundreds of national and provincial constituencies based on a digital census carried out in April, before arranging the electoral contest.
Political experts and analysts have warned that the absence of free, fair and transparent polls in Pakistan would exacerbate the country’s political and economic crises.
