Coalition govt rejects Imran Khan’s call for early elections

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) and its coalition partners have decided to hold the next general elections on its time.

The meeting of coalition partners was held here on Tuesday and was attended by Shehbaz Sharif and other leaders. Party sources claimed during the meeting, the coalition partners decided that early elections were not a good option.

It was discussed in detail that in case of early elections, the advantage would go to Imran Khan as he had recently won 15 out of 20 seats in Punjab, which was considered the home ground of PMLN.

It was also discussed that the coalition government should work out a plan to give some massive relief to the masses to earn credibility. They talked about the reasons of defeat in Punjab and it was unanimously agreed that the increase in petroleum products’ prices and electricity tariff had increased the burden on the masses, who showed their resentment in the by-election.

The meeting further discussed that at the grass-root level, the general public didn’t vote for turncoats and political workers and leadership at local level also remained inactive and didn’t run campaigns for the turncoats of PTI contesting elections on the PMLN ticket.

The meeting also discussed that the coalition government will continue to take difficult decisions to save the country from an economic collapse. The participants also discussed the new strategy for the upcoming elections as well as to counter the narrative of Imran Khan.

The coalition parties also decided how the Punjab government of PMLN could be saved. The participants agreed that Hamza Shehbaz will remain the Chief Minister Punjab.

After the meeting, dismissing all speculations regarding possible dissolution of the government following the PTI’s victory in the recently-concluded Punjab by-election, Federal Minister for Railways and PMLN stalwart Khawaja Saad Rafique announced that the federal government will complete its tenure.

Talking about the Punjab by-elections, Saad Rafique said that these elections cannot measure the popularity or unpopularity of PML-N as the party and coalition government had won five out of 20 seats. He said that the PML-N leadership has made sacrifices for democracy, adding that the party knows how to save its politics but it decided not to do so.

“The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) requests to respect the decisions made by parliament and that it has reservations on judicial interpretation of Article 63(A),” he said adding that “Legislation is the Parliament’s prerogative and it should not be interfered with.”

On the other hand, JUI-F leader Akram Khan Durrani said that Khan attacks the ECP and the judiciary, and was constantly humiliating the institutions. “If he [Imran Khan] does not stop, the law will take its course,” said Durrani.