Advisor to Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Babar Awan Monday said vote was a fundamental right of Pakistanis residing anywhere in the world and the government would do utmost to make them part of the electoral process.
“Constitution gives overseas Pakistanis right to vote and present government was committed to facilitating them while the opposition is still trying to keep them away from voting,” he said this while addressing a joint press conference with Minister of State on Information and Broadcasting, Farrukh Habib here.
Dr. Babar Awan said Prime Minister Imran Khan and his coalition partners believed in supremacy of constitution and rule of law while Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly, Shahbaz Sharif wanted to deprive overseas Pakistanis of their right of votes. He asked the Opposition leader to focus on supremacy of parliament for legislation and respect its sanctity. He said the opposition leader had denied supremacy of Parliament while the government desired to carry forward all matters through legislation. The electoral and judicial reforms were top priority of the government, he added. The Advisor said the government has always shown seriousness over bringing transparency in elections through using the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) but it was quite unfortunate, the Opposition parties, who wanted the status quo to persist, were not in favour of a transparent system. Dr. Babar Awan said the opposition parties should not mockery with the constitution and avoid disrespecting the sacred document and questioned how Shahbaz Sharif deprive 10 million Pakistani expatriates from their right to vote? When asked, he said Nawaz Sharif must surrender himself before law as he had been convicted. He is an absconder and on return to Pakistan will face jail.
Criticizing Nawaz Sharif, he said those convicted persons residing abroad become Altaf Hussain not Nelson Mandela. Answering another question, he said Parliamentary leaders would be briefed about the situation on borders during this week due to prevailing circumstances in Afghanistan.
