Former Pakistan Peoples Party senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar on Saturday questioned the timing of the government's decision to ratify the digital census, thus making it mandatory for the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold the delimitation exercise afresh, deeming it malicious.
The federal government on Saturday convened a meeting of the Council of Common Interests - which provides all provinces to have an equal say on matters of grave national importance - which unanimously decided to approve the results of the recently concluded census.
In a message posted on his official Twitter account, Khokhar, who has always been vocal about the stance he took, one of which cut his term in the Senate short, took a swipe at the coalition government.
"The Council Of Common Interests' decision to notify the census just a few days before the government's tenure ends is malicious," he wrote.
Khokhar continued that the government must have known that approving the census this late would force the Election Commission of Pakistan to undertake the delimitation exercise afresh and that this would likely push the elections past their constitutionally allotted timeline.
"They know that by approving the census so late, it would create an excuse to postpone the elections," he said.
He questioned how the ruling coalition partners of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the PPP would they give sermons about protecting democracy after pulling off such a move.
"You suffered the incarcerations, hardships and even the gallows just so you could participate in the violation of the constitution after fighting with the establishment?
https://twitter.com/mustafa_nawazk/status/1687797824799256578
The federal government on Saturday convened a meeting of the Council of Common Interests - which provides all provinces to have an equal say on matters of grave national importance - which unanimously decided to approve the results of the recently concluded census.
In a message posted on his official Twitter account, Khokhar, who has always been vocal about the stance he took, one of which cut his term in the Senate short, took a swipe at the coalition government.
"The Council Of Common Interests' decision to notify the census just a few days before the government's tenure ends is malicious," he wrote.
Khokhar continued that the government must have known that approving the census this late would force the Election Commission of Pakistan to undertake the delimitation exercise afresh and that this would likely push the elections past their constitutionally allotted timeline.
"They know that by approving the census so late, it would create an excuse to postpone the elections," he said.
He questioned how the ruling coalition partners of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the PPP would they give sermons about protecting democracy after pulling off such a move.
"You suffered the incarcerations, hardships and even the gallows just so you could participate in the violation of the constitution after fighting with the establishment?
https://twitter.com/mustafa_nawazk/status/1687797824799256578