In an effort to find a solution to the “quagmire” created by PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s announcement that the two legislatures would be dissolved on Friday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, former president Asif Zardari, and ex-premier Chaudhry Shujaat met separately in the city on Sunday. Their goal was to find a way to stop the dissolution of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies.
PM Shehbaz visited Chaudhry Shujaat earlier in the day and reportedly discussed with him the option of re-launching efforts to woo back Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi by offering him to continue as CM with the help of PML-N and PPP’s support after ditching PTI, Mr Elahi’s partner in the coalition ruling Punjab.
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توڑنے کے لئے حوصلہ چاہیے ، لیکن جن کا کیچن صوبائی حکومتیں چلاتی ہوں انہوں نے کہاں توڑنئ ہے ۔ #ٹرک_کی_نئی_بتی pic.twitter.com/ntaug5Srd9
— Atif Rauf (@Atifrauf79) December 17, 2022
Responding to the development during an interview on Geo News show Naya Pakistan, Sanaullah said: “I can’t understand what are they waiting to do till next Friday. If they have decided then they should dissolve the assemblies today.”
He alleged that the PTI and the PML-Q “will try to find an excuse that some no-confidence motion appears or a direction from the governor arrives” so Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi could “have an excuse” to continue his tenure.
He questioned the logic behind this “drama” of waiting till next week if the two parties had actually decided to dissolve the assemblies. “Sign the summaries and send them,” the interior minister challenged.
Questioned on whether the PML-N would submit a no-confidence motion in the Punjab Assembly to block the dissolution, Sanaullah admitted that a section of the PML-N’s parliamentary party held that opinion.
“However, there is also an opinion that they (PTI and PML-Q) shouldn’t be stopped. They should resign and exit the government and then [we] should move forward in accordance with the law and the Constitution, keeping in mind the situation that develops.”
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The interior minister added that the party leadership and supremo Nawaz Sharif would make the final decision on the government’s response in the next day or two.
Meanwhile, Adviser to Prime Minister on Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Qamar Zaman Kaira questioned what stopped the PTI from taking the dissolution step a month ago.
“What was stopping them today? They should have stood up today and announced [the dissolution] and went and submitted the summaries in the assemblies.”