WASHINGTON: Senior US diplomat Victoria Nuland spoke with Pakistani Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani and discussed importance of “Timely, free and fair elections” in country, US State Department said.

“Acting Deputy Secretary Nuland and Foreign Minister Jilani discussed importance of timely, free and fair elections in manner consistent with Pakistan’s laws and constitution,” US State Department said in statement. Pakistani politics has been in crisis for over year, with former Prime Minister Imran Khan being at centre of it.

Political analysts said that if caretaker set-up stretches beyond its constitutional tenure, prolonged period without an elected government would allow military, which has ruled directly for more than three decades of country’s 76-year existence, to consolidate control.

Nuland and Jilani also discussed Pakistan’s economic stability and continued engagement with IMF, State Department said.

Published in The Daily National Courier, August, 31 2023

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