Government will hold by-elections if opposition MPs resign, says Imran

Tariq Butt, Correspondent

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said he is confident he would emerge victorious in the clash with the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) as he is more confident than it.

He told senior news people that the government will hold by-elections as per the Constitution if the PDM tendered resignations from the assemblies. He said the local elections will be held after the Senate polls in April 2021.

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Khan reiterated his position that the government was willing to hold a dialogue with the opposition on every issue but "no talks on giving NRO will be held with it".

Referring to the protest movement by the PDM, he said that the government will not use force. "The opposition wants to instigate chaos; it wishes the government to use force.”

Pakistan opposition leaders gesture at a Multan rally. File photo

He said that in Multan, the opposition broke the locks of the stadium, the venue of its public meeting in such a way, as if Nelson Mandela and Che Guevara were coming there. "Let them have fun while I am master of holding public meetings and staging sit-ins.”

Khan said the government will implement the orders of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) while dealing with rallies. He claimed that there was a foreign hand behind the opposition’s movement.

The prime minister alleged that 40 representatives of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were land grabbers, who would be spared in the ongoing drive.

He conceded that his government's "biggest mistake" was not securing a financial deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) immediately after getting elected.

"A coalition comprising a few countries does not want to see a strong Pakistan. Whatever happened in Iraq, happened for the same reason. Iraq and Iran were made to fight each other in an attempt to break up the two nations. There is a source behind whatever is happening inside Pakistan. Efforts are being made to create instability across the country.”

The premier admitted another of his government which was that it was not initiating the process of institutional reforms. He also admitted that some failure was faced in the Petroleum Ministry.

He said even a little wrong move in the Petroleum Ministry results in massive losses. He said the power sector is in crisis due to enormous debt and IMF is pressing for increase in power rates to reduce circular debt, but the government is of the view that it can’t be done because power rates are already very high in Pakistan.