ISLAMABAD, April 26: Information secretary of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Sherry Rehman on Wednesday said that an interim government of national consensus would ensure free and fair elections.

“While election under a caretaker set-up is better than elections under the present partisan political set-up, it is not the same as elections under an interim government of national consensus as demanded by the opposition,” Ms Rehman said in a statement.

Responding to the statement of the chief election commissioner Justice (retd) Qazi Mohammad Farooq that the elections would be held under the caretaker set-up, she said the PPP had asked for free and fair elections under an interim government of national consensus in which all political parties and leaders were provided a level-playing field.

The CEC had made this statement after a meeting with a three-member PPP delegation comprising Senator Babar Awan, MNA Sherry Rehman and MNA Syed Naveed Qamar on Monday. Ms Rehman said the PPP also urged the CEC to play his constitutional role in ensuring the safe return of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan for participation in the forthcoming election. “Elections cannot be termed free and fair without their participation,” she quoted to have told the CEC.

Ms Rehman said the PPP delegation apprised the CEC of its concerns about the forthcoming elections in the light of its experience of the 2002 general elections and also the recent local bodies polls. —Staff Reporter