Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday criticized Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan for wanting to gain power even if it means undermining the foundations of the country.
The PTI and the coalition government are at loggerheads over earlier pressure to hold early elections. However, the ruling coalition has ruled out snap polls and vowed not to bow to pressure from Khan.
“Imran’s recent statement against parliamentary democracy is the latest in a series of attacks on the functioning of democracy in modern nation-states,” the prime minister said in a tweet.
Imran’s recent diatribe against parliamentary democracy is the latest in a series of attacks that fly in the face of how democracy functions in modern nation-states. His politics is aimed at making his way to power even if it means undermining foundations this country stands on.
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) December 4, 2022
As the PTI chief speaks out against state institutions and hurls abuses against the leaders of the ruling coalition, Prime Minister Shehbaz believes that the sole purpose of his politics was to return to power by any means necessary.
“His (Khan’s) politics is aimed at making his way to power even if it means undermining the foundations of this country,” the prime minister expressed.
The Prime Minister’s statement came as the PTI chief expressed his willingness to stop the dissolution of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assemblies if the coalition government agreed to hold elections by the end of March next year. Another announcement to put pressure on the Allies.
In an interview to a private news channel, Khan said: “We will not dissolve the assemblies if they are ready for elections by the end of March. Otherwise, we want to dissolve Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab Assemblies and hold elections.
He added that his party would not agree on any date after March and if the government did not agree, the assemblies would be dissolved this month [December].
“How long will they take to decide? They will either have to say yes or no. We have already decided,” the former prime minister said, indicating his tentative stance on talks with the government on the election date. He said.
Also, for the first time after spending three-and-a-half years with former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the PTI chief said: “Giving him [General Bajwa] an extension is my best. It was a big mistake.”
“I will trust everything former army chief General Bajwa says. I will tell him that we are both thinking of the country. Our goal is one – to save the country,” Khan said.
The former prime minister further said that I don’t know how he was lied to and cheated.
Accusing the former army chief of treason, Khan said that whenever he asked Bajwa about the conspiracy, he replied that he wanted continuity.
The former prime minister said he complained to Bajwa that his allies were insinuating that the army was forcing them to change their allegiance and that he was saying the forces were “neutral”.
He revealed that leaders of MQMP and other parties had also told him about the role of former Army Chief General Bajwa.
“We were surprised that they were telling me something else and we were getting other signals from there,” Khan said.
