Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has admitted that he dissolved the Provincial Assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on the advice of former Army Chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa.
In an interview to a private news channel on Sunday, the former prime minister said, “In a meeting with General Bajwa in the presence of President Dr. Arif Alvi, he [General Bajwa] said that if you want elections, dissolve your governments.” “
General Bajwa had no ideology, he said, adding that the former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) lied to him.
The ousted prime minister, who was ousted after a no-confidence motion in April last year, said the Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief told him that Bajwa wanted to bring Shehbaz Sharif to power.
He also revealed that a Middle Eastern leader had told him a year ago that Bajwa was no longer with him.
“General Bajwa and the intelligence agency knew that the current rulers had stolen money from the national exchequer and taken it abroad. Despite knowing this, General Bajwa was willing to give them ‘NRO’ as they had planned expansion. himself], Khan added.
“If you have an ideology, you cannot convince yourself to give NRO to these people,” he added.
During the interview, Imran Khan also suggested that if Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif dissolves the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, then elections should be held in July.
The ousted prime minister said that if the prime minister dissolves the assembly, elections can be held in July.
He also stressed that the caretaker governments in both Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) – the provinces where Khan’s party was in power before he decided to dissolve two of their assemblies on January 14 and 18 respectively. tha – are illegal after their expiry date.
The ousted prime minister said that the caretaker government’s term has ended, it has become illegal.
He further said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan has given the date of May 14 for the Punjab elections and his party will not let the government go beyond that.
“If they think they [the current government] will put pressure on the Supreme Court, we will not allow that. They will defame the Supreme Court to run away from the elections.”
In response to the PTI’s demand for elections in both provinces, the government has repeatedly insisted on holding the national and provincial assembly elections simultaneously in October.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial, comprising Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan and Justice Muneeb Akhtar, declared the Election Commission null and void and set a new date for the Punjab Assembly elections on May 14. Pakistan (ECP) decided to extend the date of elections from April 10 to October 8.
While security has been cited as a major concern for the government’s refusal to hold elections, lack of funds to carry out the task has also been cited as the main reason for its insistence on delay.
The PTI chief shared the proposal, refusing to back down from his demand for snap polls. “There may be no money even in October. The situation may worsen. We cannot go beyond May 14.
The former prime minister further said that the inflation has disturbed the people, the government is running away from its response by postponing the election.
“They are afraid of elections,” he said, criticizing the Shehbaz-led administration.
Khan insisted that the ECP was working closely with the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) – an alliance of 13 political parties.
Maryam Nawaz is receiving protocol. The Election Commission is with them,” he said, directing his criticism at the electoral body and the senior vice-president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
Commenting on the issue of talks with the ruling coalition in Islamabad, Khan said that he had given the mandate for talks to his party’s vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and not to former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser.
“There has been no talk of talks with Shah Mehmood Qureshi yet,” he clarified as there were reports that some major political parties had reached out to the PTI.
Earlier this week, Chief Justice Bandyal had said that the Supreme Court could create some space and change the date of the polls if all political parties agreed to negotiate. The court had earlier also urged the political parties to sit together and solve the problems.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari also expressed his support for the proposal and urged his allies as well as all other political parties to come together and try to end the ongoing crises.
Senior PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira also confirmed the ruling alliance’s contact with PTI. Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haque is also trying hard to build a bridge between the PTI and the coalition parties in the government.
Meanwhile, Khan claimed that the government would use negotiations to further delay the elections.
He said that his long march took place because the government was not serious in negotiating with his party.
I gave 20 days to start the long march. Is 20 days not enough for negotiations? asked the former prime minister.
