Pakistan’s prime minister says manipulation of coming elections by military is ‘absolutely absurd’

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Pakistan’s interim prime minister says he expects elections to take place in the new year, dismissing the possibility that the country’s powerful military would manipulate the results to ensure that jailed former premier Imran Khan’s party doesn’t win. Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said it’s the Election Commission that is going to conduct the vote, not the military, and Khan appointed the commission’s chief at the time, so “why would he turn in any sense of the word against him?” In an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, Kakar also lashed out at India for touting itself as the world’s largest democracy while refusing to hold a democratic plebiscite in disputed Kashmir.