Elections puzzle

Neither the US nor General Bajwa were responsible for Imran Khan’s ouster as prime minister. His extreme arrogance appears to have alienated his coalition partners and even some of his party members who voted against him. The cricketer in him fought back to have the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies dissolved. This has created a crisis which has embroiled the entire political sphere and even the Supreme Court. The apex court has set May 14 as the date for the Punjab elections, even though parliament has been unable to provide the funds needed to hold elections.

The Supreme Court has asked the political forces to come up with a solution. The easy option for the Supreme Court seems to be to annul the controversial decision of dissolving the two assemblies enabling the general election to be held on its original due date. Meanwhile, the current interim government should be allowed to continue functioning until the general elections. This will give the coalition government some time to exclusively focus on the critical economic meltdown.

Hameed Akhtar Niazi

Islamabad