Punjab polls: IK warns of taking to the streets if SC order violated

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has warned the coalition rulers and their ‘handlers’ of country-wide agitation if the Supreme Court order on holding polls in Punjab on May 14 was violated.

“If the rulers defy the Supreme Court’s orders of holding elections on May 14 and violate the Constitution, there would be lawlessness in the country.

The PTI would resort to street agitations until the Constitution and the rule of law is restored,“ said the former Prime Minister while addressing a PTI rally here on Saturday in connection with International Labour Day and expressing solidarity with the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He led the rally from Liberty Chowk to Nasir Bagh, and many PTI workers and supporters accompanied him.

Imran Khan to lead PTI’s Lahore rally to ‘show solidarity with Supreme Court’

Khan said they stand with the Supreme Court and the Constitution, and till now, they have held peaceful public gatherings and political rallies, adding that the next week would be decisive. He maintained that on Tuesday (today), they would hold talks with the rulers with a one-point agenda. If they agree to dissolve the assemblies before May 14, then the PTI would be willing for ‘one-elections’ in the country.

“However, if they refused to dissolve the assemblies by May 14 and showed shrewdness by trying to take the elections after the budget, we would not accept it. In that case, we would approach the Supreme Court and demand elections on May 14 in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he added.

He told the party supporters that he agreed to hold negotiations with the ruling parties at the request of the Chief Justice of Pakistan. However, he doubted the rulers’ intention of holding elections, saying they were using all tactics to delay them until the PTI and Imran Khan were weakened, thus creating grounds for their victory. “They were running away from elections as they feared losing them.

Hence, they were using all unfair tactics, including harassment and arrests of our leaders and workers, assassination attempts and maligning me with false cases, to weaken the party and remove me from the political scene. They want to hold elections when they think they would win,“ he added.

He believed that if the Constitution was breached, the economy would further deteriorate; the people were already hard-pressed by unprecedented inflation in the country. “If the political situation is not stabilised, chances of foreign investments will be low. This country is heading towards destruction, and unemployment is rising day by day. If they reject the Supreme Court’s decision, then the nation would come out of their homes with me,” he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023