Ready for elections on same date if assemblies dissolved by May 14: Imran issues ultimatum to govt
Former prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday announced that the PTI was ready for elections on a single date if the incumbent coalition government dissolved the remaining assemblies by May 14.
In a televised address to the nation today from his Zaman Park residence, the PTI chairman said: “If you dissolve the assemblies by May 14 then we are ready on a single election date with you.”
Imran said his negotiation team comprising PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry and Senator Ali Zafar will go for the meeting on crucial election talks with the government team on May 2 (Tuesday).
“It will be a national election and we feel we are ready for it,” he said. “This is the only way stability will be achieved, the economy will improve and the conditions of the people will transform.”
Imran lambasted the government leaders for suggesting passing the new budget first before calling for elections. “I sense bad intentions in this,” he said.
“Win the polls first, get the five-year mandate and then pass the budget.”
The PTI chairman questioned that “what’s the point of them presenting a budget when someone else will have to carry the weight of it.”
He said that the “real budget” would be the one passed by the government which came to power after winning the elections. The former premier stated that any notion of the assemblies being dissolved after the budget would be “unacceptable” for the PTI.
“We are ready for joint elections if you are ready to dissolve the assemblies by May 14. If you are not then the Supreme Court has already ordered Punjab elections on May 14 and after that, we are going to the apex court for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elections.”
Imran said rallies will be carried out on May 1 (Monday) in three provincial capitals. “I will lead the rally in Lahore at 1pm from Liberty till Nasir Baig. Qureshi will lead the Islamabad rally at the same time and Pervez Khattak will lead the Peshawar rally.”
He further said the purpose of the rally was to save the Constitution and the country. Imran also extended an invitation to the legal community and the working class to participate in the rally.
The PTI and the government are engaged in crucial election talks to break the deadlock over their timing. The two sides on Friday decided to hold what one minister called the “almost final round” of parleys on May 2 (Tuesday).
Representatives of the government and the opposition exchanged proposals during the second round of talks held in Committee Room No 3 at the Parliament House.
Though the development generated some optimism, the dialogue process still appears to be fraught with the possibility of failure as important figures from both sides in their remarks stuck to their guns and questioned the utility of negotiations if one side did not agree with the other’s suggestion.
Informed sources told Dawn that the PTI insisted on a date for the dissolution of the National Assembly prior to the presentation of the budget to “reduce political tension”.
Appeal to Supreme Court judges
Separately, the PTI chief also appealed to all the 15 judges of the apex court to unite for the nation’s sake and advised them to set aside their egos for the supremacy of the Constitution.
“I’m talking to all the 15 judges today. The entire nation is looking towards you,” Imran said. “The nation is looking towards you. Stand with the Constitution.”
He further said: “You don’t know how close we are to anarchy. If PDM is going to destroy the Constitution then what will be left? Only the law of the jungle is left now.”
The ex-prime minister highlighted how the country’s chief justice and his family were being targeted by spilling dirt on the families.
He also accused the handlers of violating the Constitution by standing behind the 12 coalition parties.
Toward the end of his address, Imran pleaded with the Supreme Court judges to “please unite and save the country from mafias gifted to us.”