RAWALPINDI: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed today (Sunday) has asserted that whether the elections were held through secret voting or open ballot, those who are ready to be bought will sell their votes.
“There is no place in the country for those who sold their votes or spewed nonsense,” he said, while addressing a ceremony in Rawalpindi. He further said that those who get their seats sold are destroyed by the same ill practice.
The interior minister said, “No hell will break loose if a party loses one or two votes in the polls.” Commenting on the Opposition’s long march to Islamabad on February 26, the interior minister said they would be ‘welcomed’ if they followed the law and the Constitution.
“I want to tell the whole PDM that if you remain within the limits during the long march here, there will be no problem, no obstacle,” he added. However, he said if the PDM did not remain within the limits, then “Islamabad will be Islamabad [and] do not say you were not told.”
The federal minister advised the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to review its decisions. “It isn’t easy to stage a sit-in,” he said, adding, “PTI’s 126-day long sit-in was the most difficult thing I have done in my life.”
Talking about government employees’ protest, he said that it was necessary to test the tear gas as it had been unused for a long time. “Only a little was tested, not a lot,” he claimed.
Last week, Islamabad police had fired over a 1,000 tear gas shells at the protesters to disperse them. The protesters, who were government employees, were demanding an increase in their salaries in accordance with the prevailing inflation.
