By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The chief minister of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Tuesday sent a summary for the dissolution of the assembly to the provincial governor in a latest push to force the coalition government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to hold early general elections.
Chief Minister Mahmood Khan of ex-premier Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party called for the legislative assembly to be dissolved within the next two days.
Last week, Pravez Elahi, Khan’s coalition ally in Punjab also dissolved the provincial legislative assembly.
KP Assembly will stand dissolved in the next 48 hours even if Governor Haji Ghulam Ali does not approve it.
CM Mahmood said the decision to dissolve the assembly was taken in the broader interest of Pakistan.
“I, Mahmood Khan Chief Minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in pursuance of Article 112(1) of Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan do hereby forward my advice for dissolution of Provincial Assembly of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on January 17, 2023,” read the summary.
In a video statement, the KP CM said: “I promised Imran Khan that I would sign the summary for the dissolution of the provincial assembly by 10 pm and I did.”
“We have done whatever we could for our people. Now, the assembly will be dissolved, and elections will be held within 90 days.”
The PTI would return to power with a two-thirds majority not only in the province but across the country, he added.
PTI senior vice president Chaudhry Fawad Hussain described the dissolution of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly as “an important step toward national elections” in the country.
“We will be able to send the federal government home in the next two weeks and the country will move toward elections,” he said in a Twitter post.
PTI’s chief Khan, who was ousted as prime minister in a no-confidence vote in April 2022, announced last month to dissolve two of the country’s four provincial assemblies where he holds power, in a bid to force early elections.
The coalition government, however, insists that general elections will be held after the completion of the tenure in August. Historically, polls for the federal and provincial governments are held at the same time every five years.
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