Awami Muslim League (AML) chief and former interior minister Sheikh Rashid said on Friday that matters with regards to snap polls have been settled. “Instead of by-elections, matters on new elections have been settled,” he tweeted. “The nation will soon hear about the date for elections in October, formation of a new election commission and a caretaker government.”
In an apparent reference to PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, who has contracted Covid-19, Rashid said: “Even those in quarantine have agreed to elections. Only [JUI-F chief] Maulana Fazlur Rehman is left.”
Rashid further highlighted that the hike in dollar rates and increase in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and electricity prices would “shut down markets”. “The political reputation of the allies has turned to ashes,” he went on to say. “Democracy has become a joke and the assembly a spectacle.”
The AML leader’s statement comes a day after Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah urged PTI chief Imran Khan to dissolve assemblies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab – where his party is in power – saying that it was a prerequisite of his demand for general elections.
At a press conference on Thursday, he had said that his party’s supremo, Nawaz Sharif, also wanted the country to move towards elections, however, “this man [Imran] is asking for the sacking of chief election commissioner without realising that fact that the CEC cannot be replaced without fulfillment of a required constitutional process.” Sanaullah also claimed the PML-N would “sweep” Punjab if elections were held, saying “we will form our government”.
At the same time, the ruling coalition also reiterated on Thursday that it would complete its constitutional term. “The government will complete its term and the next general elections will be held on time,” PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said at a joint press conference with PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, after a meeting of the alliance.
