Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan announced on Saturday that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party will dissolve its provincial assemblies next week in a bid to put pressure on the government to call early elections. Imran had urged the Shehbaz Sharif government to hold early elections but the Prime Minister has completely denied the request. With Pakistan going through extreme financial crisis due to natural disasters, the government has come under extreme pressure to organise polls.
“Next Friday (Dec. 23), we will dissolve the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies,” Khan said while addressing a gathering of his supporters in the eastern city of Lahore, reported The Dawn.
The PTI currently controls two out of Pakistan’s four provincial assemblies and the decision to dissolve their positions has given rise to a legislative crisis. Local elections are generally held alongside the general elections but the government has not said when they will be conducted.
The general elections are stated to take place in November 2023. Sharif has said earlier that the government will not hold local elections before the stipulated time for the polls.
Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan right now with a population of over 220 million and with the province in crisis, the political scene in the country is expected to get complicated soon. According to the constitution, the government needs to hold regional elections within 90 days of the legislators submitting their resignation and that puts Sharif in a tight situation.
Gen Bajwa caused more harm than an enemy: Imran
Imran also criticised former army chief Gen (retd.) Qamar Javed Bajwa and said that he has caused more damage to Pakistan than an enemy ever could.
“What Gen Bajwa did to Pakistan even an enemy could not have done. When I was in power, Gen Bajwa would tell me to forget about the accountability of thieves (Sharifs and Zardaris). The world knows about that first NRO, National Reconciliation Ordinance (amnesty for past crimes) deal given to the PPP and PML-N by Gen Pervaiz Musharraf and the second by Gen Bajwa,” Khan said.
