LAHORE: National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq says the upcoming elections should be free and fair as Pakistan suffered because of engineered polls.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of residential apartments for class-III and IV employees of the railways here on Sunday, he said those defecting a political party had no respect in politics and were not remembered in history.

Complaining about delimitation, he said his own constituency had been divided into six.

Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique said it was the responsibility of everybody including politicians to respect each other. “There should be respect for all institutions including that of the prime minister,” he said.

He said the forthcoming election would be contested on the basis of performance instead of levelling allegations and using abusive language. “Confrontation is not favourable for election. Peaceful political atmosphere is necessary for the elections,” he added.

Mr Rafique said disqualification of Nawaz Sharif itself had damaged PTI chairman Imran Khan and those who had moved court to settle the political issue. Imran Khan and others would realise this later, he said.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2018