Lahore: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan accused the PDM-led government of “ill-intentions” in proposing simultaneous elections after this year’s budget.
The budget is traditionally presented in the first two weeks of June. The federal government has stressed holding general elections later this year.
The federal government and the opposition party PTI are negotiating a date for nationwide elections on Supreme Court orders. Its final meeting expected next week.
“The government says it will pass the budget first, then hold the election. “This shows its ‘ill-intention’,” Khan told Lahore PTI workers.
The deposed prime minister said his party would negotiate if the government dissolves the national and provincial assemblies before May 14.
Khan dissolved Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa legislatures in January, but Sindh, Balochistan, and the National Assembly have not.
Civil society has urged political parties to resolve the election impasse, which has harmed Pakistan’s fragile economy.
Khan insists that “we will not accept polls after the budget”—as suggested by the ruling coalition—and that his party does not want to delay the elections.
Pakistan may fare worse than Sri Lanka if elections fail. “I’m not scaring you; I’m just expressing my opinion,” the PTI chief told his employees.
Fawad Chaudhry and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, PTI’s senior leaders, warned a day earlier that the election talks would fail if the government didn’t stop arresting its workers.
After their warning, police and anti-corruption officials raided PTI President Parvez Elahi’s Lahore home for over six hours but failed to arrest him.
Khan condemned the arrest and said “enough is enough” without leaving the talks.
