Former Pakistan PM Imran announces to dissolve Punjab, KP assemblies next Friday

Tariq Butt, Correspondent

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday night announced that his governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces will dissolve their assemblies on Dec.23 to pave the way for fresh elections.

He made the announcement in a video address to his party workers in different cities with Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi and KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan by his side. He thanked the two provincial chiefs for their cooperation with his party, and said that he had consulted PTI’s lawyers about the move, adding that the Constitution did not allow elections to be delayed beyond 90 days of an assembly’s dissolution.

"Then we will prepare for elections after that and our around 130 seats in the National Assembly, we will go to the National Assembly speaker and demand him to accept our resignations instead of picking a few,” he elaborated on the PTI’s plan of action after dissolving the assemblies.

He asked the people to refrain from being disappointed, saying it was akin to "running away from our duty to society.” He said a "lesson should be taught through elections” to the government and dealt it "such a defeat that the names of these thieves are wiped out forever”.

He said the country would "stand up” when "tough decisions” would be taken, not about increases in prices, but, "restructuring institutions and establishing justice in the country.”

At the outset of his address, Imran said the country needed "fresh and fair elections as "we fear the country is drowning.” He started by bemoaning the current economic situation of the country and contrasted that with his government’s performance. He lamented the brain drain ongoing in the country, saying that skilled people and professionals were leaving the country in droves.

"My question today is, who was responsible for this regime change?” the former premier said, referring to his government’s ouster via a no-confidence motion earlier this year. He said unemployment and inflation were on the rise and foreign confidence in the country had eroded, leading to investments drying up. "Our loans are piling up. There was only one way to solve this which we did: to increase the country’s wealth. They (the government) don’t have a plan.”

Imran said free and fair elections were the only solution to these problems and said the government was "afraid” of new elections due to the fear of losing. He expressed concern that the government might not hold general elections even in October 2023.

The PTI chairman once again raised the question of who was actually responsible for the current affairs of the country. "Only one man is responsible: General (retd) [Qamar Javed] Bajwa. I didn’t speak out against him because he was the army chief,” Imran added. "We want our army to be strong so we kept quiet and kept looking at how the conspiracy happened.”

He said the former army chief had "decided to remove us (PTI government).” "My next question is that when the government was ousted and they got to know that the public came to stand with us … and rejected these thieves and our popularity started increasing … then instead of admitting that you made a mistake, [instead] the kind of injustice they did against us, I never saw it before,” Imran said.

He mentioned the treatment being meted out to party senator Azam Swati and those who support the PTI, alleging that the former army chief was behind it all and also responsible for giving "NRO-2” to leaders in government.

"I was told at one point by Gen Bajwa that ‘we have files on your people about corruption and their videos have been made’. I said to him, ‘Is this the job of our agencies? That they make videos and files on people? This nation sustains its agencies for their security by sacrificing.’”

The former prime minister also mentioned his own audio leaks, saying that he was the premier and "my own phone was tapped; no one is asking that this is a violation of the Official Secrets Act. Where does this happen? If I am talking to my principal secretary then that was leaked.”

He claimed that according to an opinion poll, "70 per cent” of the people were demanding fresh elections, saying that is what the PTI had attempted to convince the government about through its second long march.