ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Pr­im­e Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar has expressed his best wishes and prayed for political and economic stability of Pakistan, adding that he anticipated a coalition government, but it was up to the political parties to negotiate.

He said voters exercised their constitutional rights in the general elections, and by and large, “they voted for their favorite candidates despite security challenges.

“It is the beauty of a vibrant democracy, and in Pakistan, it is a transformational democracy, also a brave democracy, considering the security challenges,” the prime minister said during an interview with the Turkish broadcaster TRT.

In response to a question, Mr Kakar said the next parliament would decide to hand over the power to that party who would meet the required number to form the new government.

Kakar says it’s up to political parties to negotiate terms

He said that the caretaker government’s responsibility was to ensure security, and ahead of the elections, two terrorist incidents in Balochistan occurred, which reminded people of the real-time threat.

“The government always had more responsibility when it came to security,” Mr Kakar added.

About the suspension of the mobile services, he said that to face the security challenge, the caretaker government had to block the communication channels.

The decision had no political motive whatsoever, the PM stressed.

It is a “fallacy” to think that the terrorists would confine themselves to these two provinces, he said, and added that there might be potential attacks in other provinces.

He said the caretaker government did its best to secure the elections. “It was only mobile services that were suspended while the internet service was available,” he added.

He rejected the impression that the suspension of mobile services hindered elections.

“The results showed that it was, by and large, a free and fair exercise.”

To a query regarding change in previous governments, he said there were perceptions and realities, and in the last two decades, the change in governments, like post-2002, happened on the floor of the parliament.

“The vote of no confidence agai­nst the previous PTI government was passed on the floor of the house with 179 votes,” the PM added.

“So how can anyone call it an undemocratic exercise and intervention from outside forces?” Mr Kakar asked and added that even when former prime minister Imran Khan was elected, people called it a product of a so-called selection process.

“But the reality was that he [Imran Khan] was elected with the support of 179 members of parliament,” he added.

The prime minister said that people were unfair in their cri­t­icism of Pakistan’s political system.

“Political parties and the parliament are the biggest stakeholders in this whole exercise of statecraft arrangements,” he asserted.

About the issue of PTIs election symbol, he said it was subjected to a judicial process and related more to the structure of a political party.

PM Kakar added that it was about the democratic exercise and how political parties were governed by the laws of the land.

In the largest interest of democracy, the PM added the verdict set a precedent for all political parties to go through the election process.

In reply to another question, PM Kakar said Pakistan had a transitional and evolving democracy, and it had had three direct military interventions in the past.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2024