Ag Agencies
PESHAWAR/LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan has confirmed that his government is indeed seeking elections in the Upper House sooner and dismissed the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) moves as a “drama for the Senate which will fail”.
In a conversation with reporters in Peshawar on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said: “We have decided two things. We will hold the first senate election soon and second, we are moving towards show of hands in Senate elections.”
The Prime Minister said the government wants show-of-hands voting because bribes are typically doled out during the elections and there are frequent allegations of horse trading. He also said the PTI expelled 20 members of its party during the last Senate elections. When asked about the PDM’s moves, Khan said he predicted that would happen in his first speech as Prime Minister. “I said when it comes to their corruption, they will all band together. I had said that when we go after their corruption, they will talk about democracy. The interests of the opposition are at odds with the interests of Pakistan.”
He also said the PDM could organise 10 rallies and he would hold one which would be bigger than all of them combined, and people would gather for it because he would be doing it for the benefit of the nation. “Mark my words, the nation will never come out for thieves,” Khan.
He added: “The robbers are all sitting outside, shopping in London. These robbers are sitting in London and telling people to get out. What fools people are, those who think people are fools are fools themselves.”
He said he was willing to negotiate with the PDM in Parliament, but he does not want them to ask for an “NRO”. The Premier said the opposition wanted to “amend 34 out of 38” accountability laws, which was akin to “burying” the anti-graft body.
His comments came as Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said in a news conference in Lahore that the government’s desire for earlier Senate elections demonstrated that the “government is anxious”. “They [government] want to rig even Senate elections,” he added.
The PPP Chairman also said his party was ready to sacrifice the PPP-led government in Sindh in its campaign for the removal of the PTI government in the Centre, Geo News reported. “All of us, including me, have decided to resign,” Bilawal said.
He said the PDM would devise a strategy to use the “atom bomb” of resignations and long march against the incumbent government. He once again asked the Prime Minister to resign.
Criticising the PTI government, Bilawal said Pakistan’s inflation rate was “even higher than Afghanistan”. “The country is facing a shortage of sugar, gas and electricity and the government is busy taking political revenge. We have decided, no matter what,
we will soon send this government packing.”
He also spoke about his meeting with Shahbaz Sharif in Kot Lakhpat jail a day earlier. “Of course when two politicians meet they discuss country’s political situation and its dynamics. Our emphasis was on unity in the PDM.”
A day earlier, Geo News reported that the federal cabinet was seeking to hold Senate elections in February instead of March. On Wednesday, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani said the government’s move was “illegal” and only the Election Commission of Pakistan could decide the date of the polls.
Under Article 213 of the Constitution of Pakistan, only the ECP has the right to announce a date for elections,” Rabbani said. “Similarly, Article 224 of the Constitution [pertaining to the time of election and by-election] states when the elections should be held.”
Science and technology minister Fawad Chaudhry, in a conversation with Geo News, said the same article says the Senate elections could be held 30 days earlier.