TAXILA: Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed here on Sunday dispelled the impression that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s mass contact drive was a preparation for early general elections.

Talking to newsmen, the minister said it was wrong to think that the prime minister was announcing development projects across the country due to the possibility of the early general elections.

He said it was a routine political activity and nothing unusual over the timing when the PTI had announced countrywide public meetings against the government.

Responding a question, he also ruled out the impression that Mr Sharif was addressing public gatherings to remove the pressure on his government over the Panama leaks issue.

He said politics of agitation and the “dust of PTI chief Imran Khan’s politics” would settle down in three months.” He claimed that the people of the country had rejected all allegations against the government as well as the politics of agitation by the PTI.

This was why the PML-N won all the by-elections, local government as well as the cantonment board elections, he added.

He said the federal government would not use its political influence to destabilise the PTI-led government in KP if Imran Khan tried to destabilise the federal government. He said the PML-N believed in democratic norms and values and was against the derailment of the current democratic system.

He said politics of allegation would be buried after the formation of the commission on Panama leaks.

He said the government had written a letter to the chief justice of Pakistan for the formation of a judicial commission to probe the Panama leaks issue. He said the chief justice can form a one-member, five-member or 17-member judge commission.

He said the TORs had also been prepared keeping in view the public demand. He added that the nation wanted across-the-board accountability of all corrupt elements.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2016