LAHORE: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sha­rif on Saturday rebuffed the idea of early elections, declaring that the PDM government had no intention to hold general elections before the end of its constitutional term.

“The general elections are still 11 months away and we have no intention to hold elections until the country’s economy comes back on track… We will work day in and day out for 11 months, bring economy back on track and hold general elections when this government will complete its constitutional time period,” said the prime minister while addressing a news conference at his Model Town party office.

He said there was no threat to democracy as the government would continue working within the ambit of the constitution. “In the best interest of the country and bright future of the generations to come, I am still ready to go to every door and hold dialogue with the pre-requisite of sincerity and seriousness about the cause. I continued persuading the Imran Niazi’s government for a charter of economy, but was blamed for ‘seeking an NRO’,” he said, adding that PTI Chairman and ex-PM Imran Khan did give NRO to his sister though.

Shehbaz says govt won’t allow ‘certified thief and dacoit’ to enter Islamabad for long march

Referring to the PTI’s planned march on Islamabad, Mr Sharif said the federal government would not allow the “certified thief and dacoit” to enter the federal capital and expressed apprehension whether people would come out on the call of the “certified thief”.

Flanked by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and his adviser Attaullah Tarar, PM Shehbaz said the ex-premier used all resources and state institutions against the Sharif family, including women members, but had sleepless nights when none of them was found guilty of massive corruption and money laundering.

However, he parried a question about Mr Khan’s backdoor contacts with the military establishment, saying it was not appropriate to comment on this subject while being an elected prime minister. On re-assertion, Mr Sharif said he would talk about Mr Khan’s backdoor contacts in the backdoor.

About army chief’s appointment by the end of next month, Mr Sharif said it was a constitutional requirement of a sitting government to complete the process and appoint one of the candidates in a panel.

Congratulating the nation over Pakistan’s removal from the FATF’s grey list, PM Sharif lauded the active support of his team, allies, and the army chief to ensure that Pakistan could achieve the milestone.

Regarding the ongoing tussle between the Centre and Punjab government over wheat procurement, the PM said the Punjab chief minister demanded that the private sector be allowed to import expensive wheat when the federal government was importing wheat at a cheaper rate.

About inflated power bills, the PM blamed the previous governments for putting the masses in the mess. However, on the instructions of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, he said, the fuel price adjustment charges were waived not only for those using less than 300 units a month but also hundreds of thousands who had been affected by the devastating floods. He also said he would himself go to the airport to welcome the party supreme leader when he would land in Pakistan. Both of them wanted to restore Pakistan-India relations, but not at the cost of sacrifices given by the Kashmiris, he said.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2022