Kakar says perpetrators of May 9 riots facing judicial process n ECP to ensure no person is targeted for his political affiliation n Denies govt’s preferential treatment with any party n Sanctity of the State should be observed as it is above any individual.

ISLAMABAD -  Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Sunday said the inci­dents of May 9 are still being in­vestigated and action should be taken against those involved in them. Speaking in a private tele­vision channel programme, he said those who perpetrated the incidents on May 9 were facing the judicial process.

Many persons were still avoid­ing the courts and were in hid­ing, he said adding they should have surrendered before the law to avail their legal rights but now they would face obstacles in car­rying out their political activities related to the elections.

He said the Election Commis­sion of Pakistan would ensure that nobody should get the im­pression that any person was made a target for his political affiliation. To a question, he said the leader of the house and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly agreed to his name and he was appointed as the caretaker prime minister.

The PM said he was supported by many people including his teachers to reach the level of at­tainment in his life.

He said the people of Pakistan would elect their representatives on February 8 and his govern­ment would carry out a peaceful transfer of power to them.

By the morning of February 9, it would be known whom the people had elected, he observed.

He said the government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) failed to resolve problems of gov­ernance during its tenure as it lacked political maturity and got involved in confrontation with the institutions.

Talking about the issues of Balochistan, he said once mili­tants realized that they would have to lay down their arms, the problems would be settled.

PM Kakar was of the view that the sanctity of the state should be observed as it was above any individual. He said Pakistan lost 90,000 of its citizens in the war against terrorism but not even nine persons were convicted in courts for the deaths. The issue of ter­rorism could not be ad­dressed, he said adding that horrific incident like an attack on the Army Pub­lic School occurred and personnel of law enforce­ment agencies, citizens and politicians had been martyred since 2008. “The criminal justice system is not working and it is a fact,” he said adding reforms in the system could not be made by the last three parliaments. He said de­mocracy would move for­ward gradually and would bring its fruits to the peo­ple as happened in Europe. He said he believed in pure democracy but the demo­cratic government should improve governance and perform to gain moral strength from the people of Pakistan. The military institutions were support­ing the government in di­saster management, eco­nomic issues, database management, education, health and space technol­ogy, he noted. He said the Special Investment Facili­tation Council was formed to help the prime minis­ter in taking informed de­cisions about the economy with the support of institu­tional input.