Interior Minister assures to allay opposition parties' concern over census

PESHAWAR: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Monday dubbed a suggestion to hold 2018 general elections on the basis of old census as immature.

He was referring to the leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah’s suggestion to hold the elections on the basis of old census figures. Ahsan Iqbal said speaking of delaying the polls was like playing with fire.

He was speaking to the media after inaugurating NADRA’s Mega and Executive Center in Peshawar. He assured to address the concerns of opposition parties over the provisional results of the recently held census.

Iqbal said consistency in policies will make Pakistan an Asian tiger, but unfortunately, the democratic set-up was not allowed to take roots in the country.

Pakistan was held hostage by terrorism in the past, but now it is poised for take-off, he said.

The Minister said people the world over used to say a civil war will erupt in Pakistan because of the energy crisis. “The people used to ask the score (the number of people dying in terrorism acts each day).”

“We rose to the challenge and almost eliminated terrorism in the country,” he said.

The home minister said that today terrorists have been restricted, adding that terrorism, extortion and target killings have been decreased by 80 to 90 percent. “Even our enemies admit that Pakistan has eradicated terrorism.”

He said that the government has overcome energy crisis. Around 10,000 megawatts of power will be added to the national grid by May 2018, he added.

Unfortunately, Iqbal regretted, a few people were hell-bent on spreading sentiments of despair and disappointment among the public from dawn to dusk.

He said corruption is more rampant in other countries of the region than in Pakistan, despite the fact they are progressing because their people do not play with a stability of their countries.