ISLAMABAD   -  Caretaker Minister for Information and Broad­casting on Monday said cooperation of all the po­litical parties was crucial to ensure free, fair and transparent elections in the country.

“We will not take sides and will remain apolit­ical,” the minister said while talking to a private channel. The minister reiterated the caretaker government’s commitment to assist the Election Commission of Pakistan in holding the general elections. “It is the right of political parties to ex­press their opinion about the National Account­ability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance,” he said, adding the caretaker government had nothing to do with the stance of any political party on different issues.

To a query, he said the caretaker government was the constitutional and legal one, and the Par­liament was the supreme institutions in the demo­cratic system. The minister said the caretaker gov­ernment respected independence of the judiciary. The people had a lot of expectations from the new Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa who had an credible past. “Measures are being taken to pro­vide relief to the public,” he said, adding the rupee was gaining strength due to those steps. 

“Action has been taken against smuggling, hoard­ing, and electricity theft,” he noted. “Investments through the Special Investment Facilitation Coun­cil will stabilize the economy and let the govern­ment to pass on relief to the masses,” the minis­ter remarked. He said the caretaker government would hand over the economy to the next govern­ment in an improved shape.