Govt, opp likely to agree on caretaker PM: Raja Ashraf
01 March, 2013
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has said that the government and opposition would reach consensus over the name of caretaker prime minister.
Speaking at a reception given by Federal Minister Khurshid Shah in honour of an outgoing MNA on Thursday, he said that the general elections would be held on time.
The prime minister said that he had written a letter to the opposition leader in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, telling him that it is better to reach at a consensus over the name of caretaker prime minister instead of the matter going to the election commission. He reiterated that all the attempts aimed at delaying the elections would be foiled and they would be held on time.
Separately, Prime Minster Raja directed the National Data and Registration Authority (NADRA) to issue computerised national identity cards (CNICs) to unregistered citizens on a priority basis and ensure that nobody remained disenfranchised in the upcoming general elections.
The PM was talking to NADRA Chairman Tariq Malik, who called on him at the Prime Minister's House and briefed him on the initiatives taken to register the population and engage political parties to motivate citizens for their registration.
Tariq Malik informed the PM that NADRA had been focusing on Sindh and Balochistan keeping in view low registration rate there, while it had moved ahead in FATA. He apprised the prime minister that in order to facilitate women in acquiring CNICs, NADRA had established 12 women-only centres across the country where only women staff had been deployed.
Raja said that NADRA should ensure that all registered voters had CNICs before the next elections. He also directed the NADRA chairman to initiate an awareness campaign to persuade people to get CNICs so that they were not disenfranchised.
End.
|
