ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party and allies have decided to use “every option” to save the Punjab provincial assembly from dissolution, a Sharif aide said on Tuesday, days after ex-PM Imran Khan threatened dissolution of provincial legislatures in the country.
Khan, who was ousted in a no-trust vote in April, threatened to dissolve assemblies in what is seen as a last resort to pressure the government to announce a fresh election.
The ousted prime minister’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (party) and allies rule the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces as well as the Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir administrative regions.
A delegation of Sharif’s coalition partner, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), met opposition leader Hamza Shehbaz on Tuesday, in a bid to save the provincial assembly in Punjab, the most important province in terms of parliamentary representation, from dissolution.
“We have exchanged views on the no-trust motion in the Punjab Assembly and will use every option to stop the PTI from dissolving the assembly,” Ataullah Tarar, a close aide of PM Sharif, told reporters at a press conference.
“If the Punjab Assembly is dissolved at the behest of Imran Khan, it will be unconstitutional.”
He said there had been divisions with Khan’s PTI party, whereas members of the Punjab Assembly, particularly the ones in power, had said the assembly should complete its constitutional tenure.
Citing the examples of 2008 and 2013 transitions of power, Tarar said the PML-N and the PPP had always had a smooth transfer of power in line with the law and constitution of the country.
“In the future too, we would not want anyone to steal the mandate of the public,” he added.
PPP’s Hasan Murtaza, who was present alongside Tarar, said his party would stand side by side with the allies.
