PTI threatens to dissolve Punjab, KPK assemblies by December 20

By Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday warned Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government that it will dissolve the assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces if a date for the next election is not announced by December 20.

“Leaders of the imported government don’t want polls and they have no idea how to run the country,” Fawad Chaudhry, former information minister, and PTI’s senior vice president said in a tweet.

“If the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) doesn’t bring a formula for holding general elections by December 20, the Punjab and KP assemblies will be dissolved.”

Former prime minister Imran Khan’s PTI is in power in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan provinces. It has lawmakers in the Sindh and Balochistan assemblies also. The party lawmakers had already resigned from the National Assembly but the resignations of all lawmakers were not accepted.

Chaudhry said that Pakistan needs political stability which is not possible without a stable government.

Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, a PTI’s coalition partner in the country’s most populous province, suggested extending the date for the dissolution of the provincial assemblies.

Elahi, last week, said he did not see elections taking place in the next four months.

“Elections cannot be held before four months; the federal and provincial governments need time to work and the elections may be delayed even after October next year,” Elahi said at an interview with a private news channel.

Pakistan Muslim League, the party of Prime Minister Sharif repeatedly dared Khan to dissolve the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies without any delay, saying the government was ready to hold polls in the two provinces in 90 days.

Ousted from the office of prime minister via a parliamentary vote in April, Khan has, since, refused to recognize the coalition government of Prime Minister Sharif and accuses it of conspiring with the military establishment and the US for his removal.

Khan had last month announced that his lawmakers will resign from the provincial assemblies as he withdrew a threat to march on the capital Islamabad by saying that it would result in destruction. The coalition government is opposed to holding elections now. The term of the current National Assembly will end in August 2023.