RAWALPINDI: President Ayub today [Feb 21] announced that he will not be a candidate in the next election. His decision is “final and irrevocable” he said and added “all doubts, suspicions and misgivings must end with this announcement”.

In a special broadcast from Radio Pakistan at 5.30 this evening, the President said he was conscious of the difficulties and grievances being exp­eri­enced in the country and it was to remove these that he had invited all the Opposition parties and independent political leaders for a conference. He said he was trying to remove the difficulties which had delayed the conference, so that all political parties and leaders could participate in it.

He wished that “we should evolve an arrangement under which we can hold free and fair elections in the best traditions of democracy so that you can elect your new President according to your wishes”. However, he said, “if for some reason we are unable to reach any agreement with the Opposition, then I shall have only one course open to me and that will be to place, directly before you, my constitutional proposals intended to remove the difficulties which I have described”. — Correspondent

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2019