Shujaat has advised govt to hold general, provincial polls at the same time: Salik Hussain

Federal Minister for Investment Board Chaudhry Salik Hussain said on Sunday that Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had advised the federal government to hold provincial and general elections at the same time.

He made the remarks during an interview on DawnNewsTV’s programme ‘Dusra Rukh’.

During the interview, host Nadir Guramani pointed out that the apex court had ruled that elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab should be held within 90 days.

“Do you think elections should take place separately in the provinces or do you and Chaudhry Shujaat think that general elections should be held in the whole country?” the host asked.

“Yes absolutely, he (Shujaat) thinks they should be held but it will be more appropriate if the provincial and general elections are held at the same time. This is our stance.”

Asked whether Shujaat had placed his point of view before the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Salik said: “Yes, yes he has put forth [the suggestion] that it should happen at the same time meaning provincial elections should be held at the time of general elections as has been routine.”

Elaborating on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari’s reaction to Shujaat’s stance, the federal minister said a few weeks had passed since then and their stance was that provincial elections should take place at the same time as the general elections.

“Until then, the caretaker government should continue its work and when its time for the general election, provincial elections should also take place,” he added.

PM Shehbaz, Zardari and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had met on Friday to discuss the political options available to them in wake of the SC verdict.

There was no official word from any of their political parties about the meeting and some senior PPP leaders, when contacted, had even expressed their ignorance about any such meeting taking place.

However, sources in the government had claimed that during the meeting, Zardari suggested that the ruling coalition should go for elections in Punjab and KP as they had no other option available after the SC judgement.

They said there was a general consensus that since the government was left with no other option to further delay the polls in the two provinces, they should direct their party workers to make preparations for the elections.

Elahi’s split from PML-Q

Commenting on Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s decision to join the PTI, Salik said the move would “definitely have a negative impact” on the PML-Q.

He said that Elahi joined the PTI due to its “popularity wave” but added that there could be “other reasons as well”.

Asked about the possibility of the PML-Q merging with the PML-N or the PPP, Salik said: “There is nothing like this and we have no such intention.”

CPEC delay

During the interview, Salik also talked about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and said that the industrialisation phase of the project was “never initiated”.

“Let me give the example of Gwadar airport. It was supposed to be completed during Imran Khan’s tenure but it faced delays, notices were issued […] so Gwadar which was the main centre of CPEC, if there is no connectivity, no airport, how will the people get to it?”

He said that the reasons for this delay in executing the project had not yet come to light. He noted that PM Shehbaz had sought the deadlines for the project soon after coming into power.

“The industrialisation phase was never started and that is a big question mark […] There are many aspects which should be investigated,” he said, adding that he had earlier raised questions over why “things which were in the country’s interest were delayed”.

“Some things came to light in meetings where heads of some institutions clearly stated ‘I was told by a cabinet member to slow [down]’ and there is another project on which I’m clear that a cabinet member deliberately delayed it,” he said, adding that these matters should be internally investigated.