LAHORE, Jan 26: Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, has said that free and fair elections will remain an elusive dream unless the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is given a free hand to carry out the task.

Talking to reporters at the residence of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif in Raiwind on Saturday, Chaudhry Nisar said: “We will stage a march from Parliament House to the ECP office to demand empowerment of the commission (to enable it to accomplish its task without any pressure).”

He said PML-N would not allow President Asif Ali Zardari to install a caretaker set-up of his own choice in Sindh and Balochistan. “We want a set-up having support of the opposition in both provinces,” he said.

In reply to a question, he said that after consultation with other political parties, the PML-N would stage a sit-in outside the Parliament House next week on the issues Sindh and Balochistan were faced with.

To another question, he said his statements always reflected Nawaz Sharif’s point of view and policies of the PML-N.

Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira had said that Chaudhry Nisar said one thing and Nawaz Sharif another. “Therefore Chaudhry Nisar’s statements cannot be taken as those of the PML-N.”

The opposition leader reiterated his demand for removal of governors of the four provinces. “The ‘political’ governors should be replaced with non-political ones before general elections,” he said.

The president of the central Punjab chapter of the PPP, Manzoor Wattoo, termed the demand unconstitutional and said that chief executive of a province is chief minister, not governor.’