Holding elections simultaneous necessary for political, economic stability: Senator Azam.

ISLAMABAD -- Federal Minister for Law and Justice, Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar on Thursday said that general elections across the country should be held together for political and economic stability.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had postponed the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa keeping in view the security, political and economic challenges, he said, adding that unfortunately an onslaught had been started on social media against this decision without even reading the facts.

Addressing a press conference, the minister said that it was the mandate of ECP to conduct free and fair elections in the country under article-218 of the constitution. The ECP didn't consider the current situation as suitable for the polls, he said.

He said that a surge in terrorism incidents had been witnessed in the country during last few months and the ECP had taken this decision after the state institutions apprised it about the security issues. The security institutions were currently busy in borders, internal security and census, he said, adding in this situation it was not possible to get heavy deployment for the polls as well.

The minister further said that the Article 224 of the constitution asked for the general elections at the same time across the country, adding that article-254 also gave provision to postpone the polls due to the extraordinary situation. There were several examples in the past when...