Lahore (HRNW) Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday extended an offer of talks to the federal government over holding general elections in the country. However, he said that if the government does not opt for talks, he may decide to dissolve the assemblies at a future date which he did not specify.
In a series of videos posted on the party’s official social media account on Friday afternoon, Imran invited the government to talks on when to hold general elections.
Claiming that the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has assured to fully support Imran’s decision to dissolve the provincial assembly, the PTI chief said that if both assemblies are dissolved, then elections will be held in 66% of the country.
“Whenever I decide to dissolve the assembly, he will take stand by my side,” he said.
“Either sit and hold talks on when you want to hold general elections or we can dissolve the assemblies or do you really want elections in 66% of the country?”
He added that if the assemblies are dissolved and elections are held, the rainbow coalition of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) would also have to go into polls and that would bring the entire government set up to a standstill.
The PTI chief lamented that the government has refused to hold talks on when do they want to hold elections and seem content on destroying the economy.
He pointed to the country’s poor economic condition as industries, agriculture, services sectors are all going down while the government has no plan to revive the economy.
Imran said that the economy had spiraled under the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) versus the economic growth achieved by the PTI-led administration, Imran said that if they are elected, they will put the economy back on track.
“The current government only plans to disqualify me or register the cases against me and PTI activists,” he added.
He added that the government wants to remove him from the board, while scuttling the cases lodged against them.
“They are scared that if elections are held they will lose heavily,” he said, adding that this is why the federal government is not interested in giving a date for general elections.