JI calls APC after Eid on elections

LAHORE: With one-point agenda of holding simultaneous elections, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) proposed on Sunday to hold an All Parties Conference (APC) after Eidul Fitr.

Sources privy to the development said the APC will be spearheaded by the JI. Contacts had been started in a bid to invite Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to the conference.

The JI believed that holding ‘split polls’ was not in the interest of the country. So, therefore, the government and opposition should agree on a date for simultaneous elections.

In terms of holding “elections in one go”, the JI will convince the government to hold the elections before October, and to the PTI after May. The JI leadership will negotiate with the PTI and PMLN’s nominated members ahead of the APC.

The PML-N has asked Khawaja Saad Rafique and Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to move forward with negotiations with the JI in a bid to settle the matter of elections.

Earlier Sunday, the PTI constituted a three-member committee to hold dialogue on the ongoing political crisis in the country.

The official notification of the formation of the committee has been issued by PTI’s Central Secretary General Asad Umar. The three-member committee includes Pervez Khattak, Senator Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhry and Mian Mehmoodur Rashid.

The three-member PTI committee will hold talks with the JI on the ongoing political crisis in the country.

JI Emir Sirajul Haq held separate meetings on Saturday with PM Shehbaz and Imran Khan and initially started to hold talks between the two for holding simultaneous elections.