News
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Opp vows protest in NA against poll ‘rigging’* Opposition leader calls for a foreign policy based on national interests, not dictation
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The opposition will strongly protest the “rigging” in the general elections held in May this year in the next session of the National Assembly, opposition leader in the Lower House of parliament Syed Khursheed Shah announced on Monday.
The announcement of the opposition leader is significant in the backdrop of irregularities unearthed in the recent days in constituencies of Karachi. “Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar promised to carry out verification of thumb impressions in forty constituencies of National Assembly, but it was not honoured,” Shah stated while talking to media in the Parliament House. He, however, declared that the opposition would not disturb the present government and would allow it to complete its five-year term in the office “for the sake of democracy”. “We only want to bring fore the things in black and white”, Shah emphasised.
PPP’s stalwart attributed the delay in talks with the Taliban to the “soft corner that the PML-N government and Taliban have for each other”. “The Talibans’ targeting of PML-N’s rivals during the election campaign left a big question mark,” he noted. Speaking about the visit of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the US, Shah said that Pakistan should talk with Washington courageously because it is not a weak state. “We have the strength to put pressure on US,” Shah opined.
“I desire that the prime minister come back from a result-oriented visit. If opposition had been consulted, it would have been much better,” Shah said. The opposition leader called for a foreign policy based on national interests. “The foreign policy should not be formulated on dictation,” he appealed. Shah also talked about the speech delivered by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and termed it good beginning of politics by him. “Everyone is discussing and commenting on this speech. It appears that the whole party has spoken through the speech of Bilawal,” he said.
The opposition leader criticised the government over energy shortage. “The government paid the amount to the power producers but no improvement has been seen. An audit should be held to determine who benefited through these payments,” Shah demanded. Shah attributed the appreciation in the value of dollar to the printing of currency notes, saying there is no other reason behind rupee’s depreciation against dollar.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk