TORONTO, 21 October 2006 — Pakistan’s Senate Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro has ruled out early elections in the country saying polls would be held only after the assemblies complete their term.
“It’s after many decades that the assemblies would be completing their term in year 2007,” he said here on Thursday.
Talking to newsmen at an iftar party held in honor of the visiting parliamentary delegation from Pakistan by Consul General Ghalib Iqbal, Soomro said don’t pay attention to speculation or rumors. “President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has made it very clear that elections would be held on schedule,” he said.
Soomro is currently on an official visit to Canada as head of a six-member delegation. He held talks with chairman of the Canadian Senate and speaker of the House of Commons in Ottawa and exchanged views with them on matters of mutual interest.
In Toronto, the Pakistani delegation visited the Ontario Legislative Assembly Thursday afternoon and met its speaker and a number of provincial legislators.
Later Soomro and members of his delegation called on Dalton McGuinty, the head of provincial Ontario government. After their meeting a government official here told newsmen that McGuinty will visit Pakistan in January next year. He said a minister and a number of leading businessmen will accompany McGuinty.
