Kakar wasn’t picked by establishment: Asif

Abida Shaheen

Islamabad: Former Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Nawaz Sharif’s return would activate dromant voters and the party would contest on the ‘vote ko izzat do’ slogan in the upcoming election. He also denied the impression that Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar was picked by the establishment.

Speaking to Asma shirazi in Faisla Aap Ka Asif said that ever since the process of picking a caretaker prime minister started, the parties involved were careful not to pick someone who could raise dobuts over transparencey in the elections.

He added that while the Balochistan Awami party had an effect on politics in Balochistan, Kakar would not have enough influcen to affect elections in the entire country.

Asif added that all the names being circulated before the nomination involved people who had a strong affiliation with some major political party, either directly or indirectly.

When asked if the nomination of Kakar came as a surprise, Asif added that most major parties knew about his consideration atleast 48 hours in advance.

He added that Kakar’s nomination would help alleviate sense of deprivation in Balochistan as the province had been suffering for a long time.

Asnwering a question about the his remarks about consensus of Abdul Malik Baloch as caretaker PM, Asif said a meeting under Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had led to the discussion over multiple names including Dr Malik. He also added that a name from KP, a name from Sindh and two from South Punjab had also been finalised.

Asif also dispelled the notion that Kakar was the establishment’s choice. However, he added that the PPP had serious reservations about many names proposed by the other parties.

He added that the name of all three Jillani brothers had been considered for caretaker PM.

On a possible election delay, Asif said a lot would depend on the Election Commission of Pakistan which had a free hand to conduct elections. However, he admitted that uncertainty over the time of elections had been created.

Asif said that even if there was no problem, the people, politicans and media had an over active imaginnation that could think up a crisis.