HYDERABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has said the timing of the forthcoming polls can be mutually agreed upon if someone fears a big population’s voting right would be hit by weather conditions.

He urged that transparent elections were necessary in the country.

He said the MQM-P had consented to the nomination of the present caretaker chief minister, considering his past profile of judge, which the party valued. It would however be regrettable if an impression of the continuation of the past 15-year rule of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was felt due to some steps he had taken.

Mr Siddiqui was speaking to journalists while attending an MQM-P’s Eid Miladun Nabi gathering at Homestead Hall late on Thursday night. Answering a question, he said the MQM-P was not and never had been part of any alliance, but seat adjustments could not be ruled out.

About the elder Sharif’s return, he said it was to be seen as there were old judgments and how strong democracy would return to the country given the present temperament of the judiciary.

He said the decisions regarding Nawaz Sharif were to be taken by the judiciary and if he was innocent, he had right to contest the elections freely.

He said he was thankful to the past government and present caretaker regime which had described the MQM-P’s demand for holding census as prerequisite for the upcoming polls on the basis of new delimitations.

He informed that the MQM-P had expressed reservations over the delimitations and questioned the process before the Election Commission of Pakistan. He hoped that the entire Pakistan would agree to such polls and a journey of fresh democracy would begin.

Referring to an MQM-P’s demand for the change of the provincial election commissioner, he said the party believed that if anything or appointment of some individuals tended to show partiality or there was evidence to that effect then holding of the elections under their supervision would be tantamount to excluding the possibility of transparent polls.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2023