ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has refused the demand made by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to dissolve assemblies before May 14, in order to pave way for simultaneous elections across the country.
Both the ruling alliance and the opposition party are set to hold crucial negotiations at 9 pm on Tuesday. PTI Chairman Imran Khan has linked the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government demand to hold elections across the country simultaneously with the dissolution of all legislatures including the National Assembly before May 14.
Referring to the PTI chief’s demand, Sanaullah said all assemblies should be allowed to complete their constitutional term and added that negotiations are not held with conditions attached.
During the talks, the PDM’s negotiating team proposed that the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should be finalised and the incumbent set-up be allowed to present the upcoming federal budget instead of caretaker setup before going into the elections. PTI leader Asad Umar warned that the country and allied parties of the coalition government will suffer “if the last chance to dissolve the assemblies is wasted”.
The third round of talks is scheduled at 9 pm today. The talks are being held to end an impasse over the timing of general elections across the country, which has fuelled political tensions, with the Supreme Court also urging the political forces to negotiate and find out a solution to the prevailing political turmoil.
(Islambad51-Newsdesk)
