ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Senator Raza Rabbani alleged on Monday that a conspiracy was being hatched to set up an unconstitutional caretaker government for the next two to three years.

He added that any steps taken to dissolve the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would also be against the constitution.

Speaking to reporters in Islamabad, Rabbani said that there was no other way to remove any member of the election commission other than through the process detailed in the Constitution of Pakistan. He said that non-democratic forces wished to derail and delay the election process. He reiterated that efforts were being made to install an unconstitutional setup for two to three years.

Answering a question, the senior PPP leader said that efforts were being made to create conditions similar to the 1977 general elections, and that a ‘sword of Damocles’ was ‘hanging over democracy’. Rabbani urged all democratic forces to unite against the ‘non-democratic forces’.

The senior politician’s comments come as the country gears up for general elections, with assemblies expected to be dissolved mid-March for the election process to being and a democratic government set to finish its five-year tenure for the first time in Pakistan’s history.