File photo courtesy PTI
A meeting of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s leadership on Monday decided to launch an ‘Election Karao Mulk Bachao’ campaign nationwide from Dec. 7 (Wednesday) in a bid to further pressure the incumbent government into agreeing to early general elections.
Presided over by PTI chief Imran Khan at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore, the meeting decided that the first phase of the campaign would span Dec. 7-17 and comprise mass rallies and public gatherings in Lahore. It decided the first rally would be organized in the constituency of Hammad Azhar—NA-126—with participants to criticize the ruling coalition on rampant inflation, human rights violations, and a troubling national economy.
According to local media, the meeting also deliberated over the PTI’s threatened dissolution of the provincial assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
On Sunday, the PTI chief said he was willing to withdraw his decision to dissolve the Punjab and KP assemblies if the ruling coalition agreed to discuss early elections—no later than March 2023. “If they are ready for elections by the end of March, then we won’t dissolve the assemblies. Otherwise, we want to conduct polls by dissolving the KP and Punjab assemblies,” he said in an interview, adding that it was not possible for elections to only be conducted in “66 percent of the country” if both assemblies were wrapped up.
Dissolution on Dec. 21?
Addressing journalists after the meeting, PTI Senior Vice-President Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said if the ruling coalition did not agree to talks on early elections by Dec. 20, the party would proceed with dissolving the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab assemblies on Dec. 21. Reiterating the PTI’s stance of the incumbent government “fearing” elections because of his party’s popularity, Hussain said the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid) fully supported the PTI’s decision.
“[Punjab C.M.] Parvez Elahi and Moonis Elahi have assured us that they will dissolve the assembly whenever we ask,” he said, despite the elder Elahi saying in a recent interview that he did not see the Punjab Assembly dissolving for another four months.
To a question, Fawad confirmed that the PTI had held “informal” talks with the government, saying President Arif Alvi had “tried to convince” Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to proceed toward early elections. To another question, he said the PTI wanted to improve its ties with the armed forces and judiciary, adding that the party’s leadership had decided no statements would be issued against incumbent Chief of Army Staff Gen. Asim Munir.