Daily Times

Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan told a private TV channel on Saturday that he was sticking to his decision to dissolve the provincial assemblies of Punjab and KP in December.

“We will implement our decision to dissolve assemblies. We are holding consultations and preparing our party leaders because negotiations for caretaker set-up will start after the dissolution of assemblies,” the former premier said in an interview with a local TV channel. “It will be done in December,” he said when asked to give an exact date for assemblies’ dissolution,

The PTI chief said while CM Pervaiz Elahi believes the government should run a little longer, he will adhere to the PTI’s decision of dissolving the assembly. “Parvez Elahi has said he will do as I say regarding the termination of the Punjab government. Parvez Elahi has not demanded becoming the chief minister again,” he said, dispelling the rumours that Elahi has attached a condition that he would only dissolve the provincial assembly if PTI agreed to nominate him for chief minister after next elections.

The PTI chief reiterated that holding early elections were essential to avert the “looming default” and stabilise the economy. “Who needs the elections most? Our [popularity] graph is going up. Opposition and General Bajwa had hoped that our party will fall apart after regime change operation,” he remarked. Imran said the early polls had become the necessity of the nation and the military. “Political stability is essential for the revival of economy which could only come through early elections… elections are essential for this country and Pakistan Army because LCs [letter of credit] are not opening for the import of weapons.”

Berating the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government, the ex-premier said the multi-party alliance was “trying hard” to get him disqualified. “[PML-N] supremo Nawaz Sharif is trying to close all cases against himself and disqualify me,” he said. “Whether they hold elections now or after 10 months or a year, they [PDM] will lose,” he claimed.

While referring to the Punjab by-polls results that were held in July, the PTI chief said that those who left the party to join the PDM were punished for doing so in the by-polls – as the party won a majority of the seats up for grabs.

Condemning the dismissal of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif’s cases, Khan said, “Nawaz Sharif will not return until his cases are dismissed. If he comes to Punjab, then he will be arrested.”

The former premier added that General (retd) Bajwa considered Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif a “genius”. He said Bajwa also told him to replace Usman Buzdar with Aleem Khan as Punjab chief minister. “General (retd) Bajwa’s demand to remove Buzdar was strange,” he said. “General (retd) Bajwa asked to remove Usman Buzdar. He would insist on making Aleem Khan the chief minister of Punjab.”

The ex-prime minister said that he informed General (retd) Bajwa that Aleem had a lot of allegations against him, and that, in light of those claims, he couldn’t appoint him as the chief minister. He revealed that the incumbent CM of Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi did not want Aleem as the province’s chief minister.

Calling all those people involved in ousting his government as “Mir Jaffer and Mir Sadiq”, he said: “Whatever happened with PTI during the last seven months was all because of ex-COAS Gen Bajwa’s policies.” “Gen (retd) Bajwa would say nobody will take a ticket from PTI and PML-N would form the new government,” he claimed.

Khan alleged that during his government’s tenure, General (retd) Bajwa controlled the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). “NAB was under Bajwa’s control; therefore, he decided who would go in and who will be released. It was not in our hands,” the PTI chief said.

He alleged the former army chief would oversee who should be arrested and who shouldn’t. “We did not have the authority. Those who did, they provided relief to them. NAB was not under our control. They [military] had influence everywhere,” he said, adding that he was asked to deal with the economy and leave accountability to them.