PM Shehbaz announces August 9 dissolution date of National Assembly

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Sunday that the National Assembly would be dissolved on August 9, three days before the term of the lower house of parliament expires, Aaj News reported.

The premier announced this while addressing a mass public rally in Kasur after laying the foundation stone for the Taray Garh interchange on the Lahore-Bahawalnagar motorway and Rai Mansab Ali Khan interchange on the Abdul Hakim motorway on the Bucheki-Nankana road.

The current assembly’s tenure is scheduled to end on August 12. As per the Constitution, elections must be held within 60 days if the assembly completes its stipulated time. However, the polls must be held within 90 days if the assembly is dissolved prematurely.

Before the assembly dissolution, the government and the opposition must agree on a name for a caretaker prime minister.

Addressing the public rally today, PM Shehbaz said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif would be the next prime minister of Pakistan.

He claimed that the three-time premier — who has been in self-imposed exile in London since November 2019 for health reasons — would change the country’s destiny by initiating projects in the sectors of agriculture, industry and infrastructure.

“Nawaz Sharif will serve the people of Pakistan as prime minister for another term if voted to power. He considers the whole of Pakistan as his family and in the past selflessly served the people,” the premier added.

The premier said that Rs263 billion would be spent on the construction of the motorway from Lahore to Bahawalnagar and on other projects.

He said in the past, Pakistan suffered from load shedding of 20 hours every day and then the PML-N supremo came in 2013, and he removed the darkness caused by power shortages by setting up power projects, revived industry and agriculture and brought the CPEC project of $ 30 billion with the collaboration of China.