RAWALPINDI: Awami Muslim League (AML) president Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said that holding elections was crucial to Pakistan’s survival, warning that attempts to evade elections could lead to the doctrine of necessity.
Ahmed, an ally of former prime minister Imran Khan, noted that President Arif Alvi had set April 30 as the election date for Punjab and that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) was yet to make a decision.
He criticised politicians for engaging in audio leak conspiracies instead of focusing on Pakistan’s agenda, and also condemned the government’s imposition of an Rs3.5 per unit surcharge on electricity.
In contrast, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal emphasized that the elections should be held under the new census, suggesting October as a suitable time for the polls.
He noted that the Constitution requires elections to be held based on constituencies and that new constituencies must be formed after the census for a transparent election.
Iqbal questioned whether Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) wanted to hold elections under circumstances that would create more conflicts and chaos in the country.
He also claimed that Khan’s dissolution of the KP and Punjab parliaments was intended to choke the system rather than for good intentions.
