KARACHI: The government of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance will observe Deliverance Day, or Youm-i-Nijaat, from Imran Khan if his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) dissolved parliaments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) minister of Sindh.
Khan has announced his party would dissolve two provincial assemblies it controls on Friday, earlier than scheduled, in an attempt to build pressure on the central government to hold early general elections.
The dissolutions could trigger a fresh constitutional crisis in the country.
In a statement, Nasir Hussain Shah, the minister for local government, lambasted the former prime minister for failing to dissolve the houses earlier and questioned his need to wait until next week.
In response to Khan’s assertion of “cruel treatment” meted out to his aides, Shah noted the PTI government detained former president Asif Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his brother Shehbaz Sharif, daughter Maryam Nawaz and opposition leaders as part of his accountability drive.
He also claimed the chief ministers of Punjab and KP, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Mahmood Khan, were against Khan’s decision to hold snap elections.
Historically, polls for the federal and provincial governments are held at the same time in a general election every five years. If the two provincial assemblies are dissolved earlier, separate polls would have to be held for them within 90 days, which could throw up legal problems.
Khan, who was injured in an apparent assassination bid last month, said he was “sacrificing” his two provincial governments for the sake of the nation’s future.
He added that elections in the two provinces would mean holding polls in 66 percent of the country, and so the government might as well hold general elections.
— With Reuters
