Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that following the May 9 unrest in Pakistan it is hard for the PPP to initiate talks with Imran Khan’s PTI. (Image: Reuters)
Bilawal Bhutto, the former Pakistan foreign minister, indirectly tried to establish the President Alvi, who is from the PTI, is working on the orders of chief Imran Khan.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), took a jibe at the Pakistan President Arif Alvi and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) saying that one party can declare election dates while the other parties are still in the dark.
His comments came shortly after President Alvi said the polls in Pakistan will be held on November 6, disregarding the Election Commission of Pakistan’s delimitation schedule.
The PTI has been demanding that the elections be held following the directions laid down by the Constitution of Pakistan.
Since the dissolution of the National Assembly was premature, the elections must be held within 90 days, according to the Constitution of Pakistan. In normal cases, when the assembly completes its tenure elections are held in 60 days. The ECP said the election could be held in the later part of January 2024.
“Not me, the chief election commissioner, or anyone knows when the polls would be held but this party knows that. All parties will have to sit together to take the country out of crises,” Bilawal said at a rally held in Muzaffargarh on Wednesday.
The PPP chairman said that PTI cannot be brought to the table under a new Charter of Democracy like it was done earlier because the Pakistan Democratic Coalition (PDM) did not agree to one.
“As far as the PTI is concerned, those who were involved in the May 9 attacks, it is very difficult for us to hold talks with them. An incompetent and ineligible prime minister was imposed due to which the country had to face a crisis at the economic and foreign level,” Bilawal said.
The PPP is holding a meeting of its central executive committee (CEC) on elections on Thursday.
The elections in Pakistan have been stalled despite the premature dissolution of the National Assembly as well as the Sindh and Balochistan provincial assemblies due to the 7th Population and Housing Census 2023 which was unanimously approved by the members of the PDM coalition.
If the ECP wants to hold the polls on the basis of the rules laid down by the Constitution, then seats of the National Assembly to each province and the federal capital must be allocated on the basis of population as per the new census.
The ECP last month said it would hold elections late January.
