Coalition govt agrees elections should be held in Oct-Nov: PM Shehbaz

The coalition government agreed that elections all over the country should be held at the same time in October or November, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday after chairing a crucial parliamentary meeting in Lahore.

The PML-N leader said the April 4 decision by a three-member bench of the Supreme Court to hold elections on May 14 had been rejected by Parliament and the federal government’s stance on this remains the same even today.

“Decisions regarding whether elections should be held and if they should be held on one day … regarding this there is complete unity in the allied parties.”

The issue of elections has been a contentious and controversial one ever since the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies were dissolved earlier this year. While the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has called for elections in the two provinces to be held as soon as possible, the government wants elections to the National Assembly and all provinces to be held at the same time later in the year.

‘PTI exploited situation’

Referring to the SC’s direction to the government and opposition to hold talks, the PM said that the SC’s job is not arbitration, but to give orders as per the Constitution and law.

PM Shehbaz said that it was important to tell the public that the PTI, instead of helping the government solve the current challenges, exploited the situation.

All-out efforts were made to spread anarchy and create division in society, and even the Pakistan Army and its leadership were not spared, he said.

However, combined efforts of everyone in the government, including the finance minister and the foreign minister, helped Pakistan’s situation improved considerably.

“Some PTI agents outside Pakistan, who are enemies of the country, they played a role that even an enemy won’t play … they issued such statements and tweets,” the premier said.

Parliamentary meeting

Earlier it was reported that the meeting with coalition partners was being held to discuss the political situation in the country.

All parliamentarians were requested to ensure their presence at the meeting.

The meeting was attended by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other important members of the federal coalition.

During the last meeting on April 18, the ruling coalition failed to reach a consensus on whether the government should hold talks with PTI.

It had a divided opinion on talks with Imran Khan to break the political deadlock in the country.

While some participants, including Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), and Balochistan National Party (BAP), had pushed for dialogue with Imran, representatives from the Jamiat-e-Ulema-Fazl (JUI-F) had opposed the option, stating that Imran was not a legitimate political force to engage with.