ISLAMABAD, Aug 27: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Monday that the government was engaged in dialogue with all political parties and it was committed to holding free, fair and transparent elections.

At a meeting here at the PM House, he discussed with Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain the overall political situation, the presidential election and preparations for general elections.

Ch. Shujaat Hussain said the presidential election would be held strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

He said PML workers were active at the grassroots level and fully prepared to take part in the elections.

Mr Aziz said that strong economy had allowed the government to pass on benefits of growth to the people by improving health-care, education and infrastructure and creating more jobs.

The two leaders also took note of the rise in prices of essential items and said the government would take every measure to keep prices at a reasonable level, especially of flour, pulses, sugar, ghee and tea, before and during Ramazan.

The prime minister mentioned the letters written to the chief ministers, advising them to release stocks of wheat to flour mills to ensure that prices of flour remained stable across the country.

Mr Aziz said that people in lower-income groups would benefit from the Ramazan subsidy package of Rs1.5 billion through the Utility Stores Corporation and further subsidy would be considered if required. He said the number of Utility Stores outlets in the country had been increased to 2,600.

He said he had also advised all the chief ministers to effectively employ price magistrates to ensure stability of prices of essential items and a law to this effect had already been promulgated.

He said the provinces had also been advised to direct the local administration to set up daily bazaars and closely monitor the prices.

Minister for Information Mohammad Ali Durrani, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Sher Afgan Niazi and Minister of State for Information Tariq Azeem also attended the meeting.