The ‘election push suggestions’ caused the dissolution of the assemblies.
The head of the PTI has said that everyone, including the leadership of the government and the former army chief, provided suggestions.
Imran Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has provided an explanation for why the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies were dissolved. He claims that he did so because everyone—including the government leadership and former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa—had suggested that this was the only way to push for elections.
The former prime minister criticised the ruling coalition for what he claimed were their delaying strategies (in conducting elections) in an interview with a private television programme.
Additionally, he noted that every major political figure in the alliance in power believed that the PTI should dissolve its governments if it desired early elections.
He said that Gen. Bajwa had made a similar suggestion in a meeting he had with the former army commander and President Arif Alvi.
He claimed during the interview to have learnt from a Middle Eastern leader that the then-army commander had turned against him and had started lobbying against his party in the US.
“He had long since started lobbying the US and wanted them to support his extension. Gen. Bajwa didn’t care about Kashmiris because he desired strong relations with India for that reason, the speaker alleged.
The Supreme Court (SC) issued a request to all political parties last week asking them to quickly reach an agreement on a date for holding simultaneous general elections for the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies. If they failed to do so, the court’s order regarding the Punjab Assembly elections on May 14 would take effect.
A citizen’s constitutional petition asking for the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies to be held on the same day was being heard by a bench chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and made up of Justices Ijazul Ahsan and Munib Akhtar.
Imran said in the interview that he had authorized Shah Mehmood Qureshi, vice chairman of the PTI Central, to speak with the PDM.
We can only engage in conversation if they make a proposal for joint and immediate elections that the SC approves by dissolving their administrations in May. However, if they leave it open-ended, it is only a trap, he insisted.
The largest requirement, according to the ousted prime minister, is the elimination of the current caretaker regimes. These arrangements are currently unlawful, and Imran continued, “We want real caretaker governments to be established.”
Imran continued by saying that based on his “readings”, the former army chief lacked ideology because he “saved” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while being aware of his corruption.
They made considerably more information available to the general public than that. but he was prepared to grant these individuals an NRO. If you have any sense of morality or philosophy, how can you grant an NRO to these thieves?” he said.
Gen. Bajwa was referred to as a “liar” by the former prime minister, who also said that when questioned if he intended to install Shehbaz, the general called the Sharifs his “biggest enemy.”
In response to a question on the extensions offered to the former army leader, the former prime minister claimed that the first time he learned of a plan, he told Gen. Bajwa that he could grant him an extension as well if that is what he had been promised from the other side and pleaded with him not to overthrow the government.
Gen Bajwa reportedly informed Imran that the initial extension had been a mistake, indicating that the government was under duress to grant him an extension.
Additionally, he revealed that the second offer was made when he pushed for elections following the floods, but the then-army chief declined to hold them due to the floods.
He claimed to have learnt that Shehbaz had extended the deadline, but Nawaz Sharif, the PML-N’s supreme leader, later reneged on this claim.
