Daily Times

Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz Friday said he had accepted the Supreme Court’s decision with an “open heart” recalling that Punjab had been a victim of a constitutional crisis for the past three months. “First the elections were postponed and then oath-taking was delayed. For two months, we had no cabinet,” he said while talking to the reporters. “As a politics student, I believe that the amount of crises Punjab has seen in these last three months, it can get an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records,” he said.

“Today, I told the court that I am a democratic person and have struggled for 17 years. I told the honourable chief justice that if I didn’t have numbers for the run-off election, I wouldn’t even be standing here. I would have gone home.” “I told them to hold the election right now,” Hamza said, adding that he accepted the court ruling because “I have nothing to hide”. Hamza continued that during the by-elections on July 17, whichever party the public chose should be given the province’s charge, says a news report. “Even on that day, whatever the public chooses, I will accept it.” He, however, expressed confidence that the nation would show their support for PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during the by-polls, as they had seen who was working for the public. Regarding the increase in the price of petroleum products announced a day earlier, the CM said the coalition government took this decision with a heavy heart. “The decision to increase the prices of petroleum products isn’t political … it was taken to save the country from bankruptcy,” he said. Further, the chief minister said he was “working day and night” to provide relief to the masses. Whatever the outcome of the July 17 by-election, the party would accept it, he added.