ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s interior minister Rana Sanaullah on Thursday asked former prime minister Imran Khan to dissolve the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to demonstrate his commitment to early elections in the country.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has been ruling KP since 2013.
More recently, the PTI swept by-elections in Punjab and managed to form a coalition government with its ally, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), after Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi became the province’s chief minister.
Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April, has repeatedly demanded fresh polls in Pakistan, though Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his ruling coalition have said the elections will be held on their original schedule in August 2023.
“He [Imran Khan] is demanding we dissolve the government [the National Assembly] and call fresh elections,” the interior minister said during a news conference.
“You [Khan] also have governments in two provinces [of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa] where elections cannot be held without dissolution of assemblies,” he continued. “So, Khan should dissolve them first if he is committed to [early] elections.”
Pakistan’s ruling coalition is expected to hold a meeting on Thursday night to discuss the prevailing political situation in the country and determine its future course of action after the victory of its rival PTI party in the Punjab by-polls.
Local media reported leaders of the coalition government would also discuss the idea of dissolving the National Assembly in the meeting.
