ISLAMABAD: Amid rising political temperatures, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday once again offered the coalition government talks to set a date for national elections.
The offer came hours after the National Assembly passed a resolution rejecting the “minority” verdict of a three-member Supreme Court bench on the Punjab elections and directed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his cabinet to implement the verdict. Obliged not to do it.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan, who has been demanding early national elections since his dismissal in April last year, had earlier said he was ready to wait for the elections till October if the PDM The government shares a road map with them to ensure that everything will go well.
PTI leader and former Speaker of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser said that if the PTI agrees with the government to hold early elections, it will be ready to negotiate with it. However, he clarified that the PDM would have to declare its readiness to engage in negotiations to decide on a schedule.
Assad said his party would support constitutional amendments if necessary to accommodate the schedule beyond the mandatory 90-day period and prevent anarchy in the country.
“We want the government to sit with us. We are also open to a constitutional amendment if, for once, [the elections] can be extended beyond 90 days. What more flexibility can we offer?”
The PTI leader said that it was the government’s responsibility to take the initiative for talks and urged the prime minister to publicly announce his willingness to hold talks after which the PTI would sit together and settle the issues. “It is the need of the hour that political leaders speak up,” he added.
He also accused the government of just buying time and not serious about holding fair and transparent elections.
He also accused the government of attacking the Supreme Court and said that the National Assembly resolution was a dishonest attempt to give relief to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Kaiser said the Supreme Court is responsible for protecting the Constitution, which is at stake right now. He said that if PTI comes to power, it will not engage in political revenge against its opponents.
Qaiser said that Imran has expressed willingness to forgive those who attacked him.
Senior Vice President of PTI, Fawad Chaudhry, while talking to the media, said that emergency cannot be imposed in the current political situation.
He warned that ‘the only way to stop elections in Pakistan is to abolish the constitution but this move will pave the way for martial law in the country’.
He said all actions by caretaker ministers after April 22 would be unconstitutional and warned that Article 6 would apply to interim ministers who signed any papers after that date.
In response to a question about the resolution of the National Assembly, he said that the motion was approved by 42 out of 372 members of the House. Fawad said that according to the constitution, a two-thirds majority in the upper house and the lower house of the parliament is required to annul the decision of the Supreme Court.
In response to another question regarding the Cabinet Division’s declaration, the PTI leader said that the ministers who refused to obey the Supreme Court’s decision were guilty of contempt of court.
