Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has made it clear that the federal government does not have the authority to dissolve the provincial assemblies of Sindh and Punjab – the condition is that early elections be held simultaneously across the country.
On Friday, the Interior Minister said that the Provincial Assemblies of Sindh and Punjab will complete their constitutional term on August 13.
His comments came hours after the second round of talks between the Pakistan Democratic Movement-led government and the PTI in the Senate committee room on the date of elections. The ruling parties and the PTI are set to hold a “final” round of talks on May 2 (Tuesday) after the former ruled out the possibility of a stalemate between the parties.
Last week, Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Atta Bandyal urged the ruling coalition and the opposition to come together to discuss the elections for the sake of the constitution.
The Supreme Court had directed the political parties to decide the date of the elections by April 26, but there was no progress till the deadline. In yesterday’s hearing, the Supreme Court said it cannot compel the parties to negotiate.
“The court cannot compel [the parties] to negotiate. The court only wants the implementation of the Constitution so that the dispute is resolved,” said Chief Justice Bandyal.
But PDM and Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has decided to stay away from the talks as his party believes that talks with the PTI will yield no results.
Earlier this month, Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal had said that the elections should be held on time in October this year.
Reiterating his party’s position, the security czar said general elections would be possible in October this year if interim governments are formed in the provinces in August.
In response to a question, Sanaullah said that PTI made a mistake by dissolving the assemblies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. The Imran Khan-led party had dissolved the assemblies of Punjab and KP on January 14 and 18 respectively.
The ousted prime minister, who was ousted after a no-confidence motion in April last year, had revealed on April 24 that he had contested the provincial assemblies of Punjab and KP on behalf of former Army Chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa. It was advised to dissolve. what
Meanwhile, his party – however – “backtracked” on the party chief’s statement. The party’s official Twitter account posted a screenshot of a Geo News report regarding Khan’s statement. He claimed that the report was “fake news”.
In response to a question, the interior minister said that if the negotiation teams reach a positive conclusion, it should be acceptable to all. Even if the two talks reach a conclusion, both teams will seek final approval from their party leadership.
“We have to get approval from the coalition parties, whatever the decision is in the negotiations,” he added.
