Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan said on Saturday that his party would quit the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assemblies in the ongoing month of December.
Speaking at parliamentary party meeting, he stated that KP and Punjab governments are ready to dissolve assemblies on his call.
“We will dissolve the provincial assemblies this month and move toward elections. Our members should prepare for polls,” he said.
He added that he would “only sit down with the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) if the government is willing to discuss early elections.”
“Political and economic stability will only come through elections and I realised this seven months ago,” he said.
He also urged the nation to protest against the arrest of PTI leader Azam Swati for the second time in past two months.
Separately in a tweet, he called for immediate release of Swati “not only because he has committed no crime to deserve this mental and physical torture, but also because this petulant and vengeful targeting is undermining our military’s credibility which is critical for a strong Pakistan.”
He further said that he had hoped “the new military leadership would have immediately disassociated itself from the eight months of last army chief’s fascist actions against PTI, the media and critical journalists.”
“The entire nation is shocked at the vindictive cruelty Senator Azam Swati is being subjected to and for what crime? For intemperate language and asking questions which is the right of anyone in a democracy?” he said. “Internationally Pakistan and especially our military is being perceived increasingly negatively because the present imported government is seen as a mere puppet government.”
On November 27, Swati was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) over a case related to a controversial tweet against senior military officials.
A first information (FIR) report was registered by the FIA on the complaint of the state through Islamabad Cyber Crime Reporting Centre (CCRC) Technical Assistant Aneesur Rehman.
Following the arrest, a local court in Islamabad granted the FIA a two-day physical remand of Swati in the case.