Monday, 5 December, 2022 I 11 Jamadi Awwal, 1444 I Rs 40.00 | Vol XIII No 156 I 44 Pages I Islamabad Edition
instead of democracy, early polls to further imran’s agenda : Bilawal g
SAYS IT’S IMPORTANT FOR COuNTRY GOVT COMPLETE ITS CONSTITuTIONAL TERM uNLESS THERE WAS ANY uRGENCY
ISLAMABAD
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staff report
OREIGN Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Sunday said that he did not see the need for holding early elections in the country as was being demanded by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan. The foreign minister, in an interview with AlJazeera, said that the current government inherited from its predecessor “a divided country and a collapsed economy.”
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uNDERSCORES ‘uNITY’ AS NO SINGLE PARTY COuLD ADDRESS SITuATION ALONE
However, he said the incumbent government was looking for solutions to internal problems and consensus at the international level. He said in order to address the challenges inherited from the previous government, it was essential that the whole country get united as no single political party or individual could address the situation alone. He said in order to address the challenged inherited form the previous government, it was essential that the whole country get united as no single political party or individual could address the situation alone.
Rubbishing the accusations of a foreign conspiracy behind the removal of Imran Khan, the foreign minister said the political leaders were supposed to speak the truth to their people instead of coming up with such conspiracy theories. He told the interviewer that it was for the first time that a prime minister was removed constitutionally through a vote of confidence, not through a coup or court order. Asked about the early elections, he said instead of furthering democracy, the early elections would instead further Imran Khan’s agenda. He said it was important for the country to complete its five years term unless there was any urgency which currently was not there. To a question, Foreign Minister Bilawal said that Kashmir was an unfinished agenda and since Narendra Modi’s election, the space for Muslims in India as well as Kashmir was shrinking. He said the people of Pakistan and Indian want to live in peace. In order to achieve that, it was essential to respect international laws and conventions to address the issue of terrorism and extremism. Coming to Afghanistan, the foreign minister said Pakistan was engaging with the wartorn country in the interest of its own as well as the neighborhood. However, he said the TTP had been involved in terror attacks in the past which were still going on. He said Pakistan would work with the Afghan government to address the challenge posed by the terrorist outfits.
Imran advised PTI lawmakers to prepare for polls: Fawad ISLAMABAD/LAHORE staff report
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry shared on Sunday the party Chief Imran Khan advice to all party lawmakers to go back to their constituencies and prepare for elections. The PTI Senior Vice President said that they will not waste any more time and call for elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. “The PDM would keep running from elections but they would not waste any more time.” In a tweet on Sunday, Chaudhry added that “if PDM continues to run away from the elections, […] we will go for the
provincial elections of Punjab and (Khyber) Pakhtunkhwa and the elections for the National Assembly would be held later”. In a tweet today, KP government spokesperson Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif assured the PTI leadership that the “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly would be dissolved on the order of Imran Khan”. Yesterday, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, in a tweet, once again reiterated his support for Imran. “We are waiting for Imran’s signal to dissolve the Punjab Assembly. We remain loyal to whom we support.” Elahi also professed his loyalty towards Imran, saying: “We are standing by Imran Khan and will
continue to stand by him.” On Sunday, PTI ally Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid said: “Either Imran will get a date for the elections by Dec 30 or will break up the assemblies; the ball is in the government’s court on whether they make or break politics.” He lambasted the government for not being in a state to “go out into the people” and said that former finance minister Miftah Ismail had “conducted a post-mortem of their economy”. Imran had on Friday stated — while speaking to legislators from the KP Assembly via video link from his Zaman Park residence — that he was “all set to dissolve the Punjab and KP as-
semblies this month and take 66 per cent of Pakistan to the polls”. The former premier had made an offer to the government to “sit and talk” and announce a date for the general elections, failing which he would dissolve the provincial assemblies of Punjab and KP, which his party govern. The former information minister added that Khan had advised all PTI candidates to go back to their constituencies and start preparing for elections. “National Assembly elections would be held afterwards if the government does not call for general polls, but PTI would opt for polls in Punjab and KP as soon as possible.” In an interview with a private channel on Saturday, the PTI chief Imran Khan shared his willingness to delay dissolution of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies if the coalition government agrees to conduct elections by the end of March next year.
Imran ‘undermining’ democracy merely to regain power: PM ISLAMABAD staff report
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and said that the ousted premier wants to make his way to power “even if it means undermining” the country’s democratic system. In a tweet on Sunday, PM Shehbaz said that the PTI chief’s “recent diatribe against parliamentary democracy is the latest in a series of attacks that fly in the face of how democracy functions in modern nation-states”. As the PTI chief speaks against state institutions and hurls abuses against the ruling alliance leaders, PM Shehbaz believed that his politics’ solely aimed at coming back into power through any means necessary. “His (Khan’s) politics is aimed at making his way to power even if it means undermining foundations this country stands on,” the prime minister expressed. The PM’s statement comes after the PTI chief shared his willingness to halt the dissolution of the Punjab
in today’s issue
and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies if the coalition government agrees to conduct elections by the end of March next year — an announcement described as pressure tactic by the critics and the coalition alliance. He added that the deposed premier’s “politics is aimed at making his way to power even if it means undermining foundations this country stands on”. Earlier, the federal government had told the PTI chief that the threats and dialogue offer could not go hand in hand in response to Imran’s offer of holding talks on the condition of announcing fresh general polls. On Friday, the PTI chief had softened his stance on possible talks with the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leaders and had appeared to be striking a conciliatory tone as he signalled his openness to “sit and talk and give a date for the general elections”. However, while making the offer he had also threatened to dissolve the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assemblies.
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‘Gen Bajwa showed us right path’ to support PTI: CM Elahi LAHORE staff report
Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has endorsed his son Moonis Elahi’s statement that former army chief Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa suggested that his PML-Q party should support PTI during opposition’s no-confidence motion against Imran Khan in March this year. In an interview with a local TV channel on Sunday, CM Elahi said Gen Bajwa told him that going with Imran was a better option after he shared his reservations about joining PDM alliance as he “did not trust Sharif family”. Elahi said he was wary of accepting the then opposition led by Sharif
family’s offer to become Punjab chief minister in return for supporting notrust motion against Imran Khan. “I knew that they [Sharif] would not let me to continue [as chief minister] as they have betrayed me in the past,” he remarked. The PML-Q leader said his son Moonis played a major role in convincing him to support PTI instead of joining Pakistan Democratic Movement alliance. Moreover, Elahi said the then army chief, Gen (retd) Bajwa showed “him the right path” to support PTI. Speaking on a private TV channel earlier this week, Moonis Elahi revealed that “there has not been any contact with the new military leadership” however, he added that the former COAS
Gen (retd) Bajwa “had turned the tides in favour of PTI”. “This is my point of contention with PTI and anyone who calls him a traitor,” he continued, “he was seen as perfectly fine when he was going in their support and now he is called a turncoat”. “I have offered the PTI to come on TV and prove to me that he [Bajwa] is a traitor and I will show you just how much the man did for you.” He went on to claim that there was “no doubt” about it that “the man had gone all out for you [PTI]”; but the minute he “removed himself then he became the bad guy”. “If he was the bad guy, he would have never told me to support Imran Khan,” Moonis said.