Interim Information Minister Murtaza Solangi on Saturday denied any role of the caretaker government in the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers of aspiring candidates for the upcoming general elections.
Appearing on a private TV channel, he explained the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers by returning officers was part of the constitutional process. “Only the Election Commission [of Pakistan] has the authority to decide on election-related matters,” he said, adding the interim government was committed to assisting the ECP with financial and administrative support for the conduct of elections.
Earlier on Saturday, the ECP issued lists of aspiring candidates whose nomination forms were accepted, with several prominent leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), including former chairman Imran Khan, knocked out of the polling exercise. “ROs, police, caretakers and ECP have played the role of facilitators for Nawaz Sharif in the first phase of elections itself,” alleged the party on its X, formerly Twitter, account. “It’s absolutely shameful how the future of 250 million people is being put in danger just in order to facilitate Nawaz Sharif,” it added.
According to Solangi, the government has recently released Rs. 17.4 billion to the ECP for expenses required to conduct the polling exercise, adding this was in addition to Rs. 10 billion that were released earlier.
To a question, he maintained constitutional bodies were working within their limits. He said all political parties, including the PTI, were being given due coverage by national broadcasters in line with their editorial policies.
To a separate query on the ongoing Baloch protest in Islamabad against extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, he said negotiations had yielded the release of all children and women in the first phase. In the second phase, he said, 163 men were released, while the remaining 34 individuals were freed in the third phase. Stressing that peaceful protest was the right of every citizen, he said blocking roads, entering restricted zones, attacking police and pelting stones were beyond the scope of a peaceful protest and would not be permitted at any cost.