Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif made these remarks while speaking during a Parliament session in Pakistan….reports Asian Lite News
Giving a befitting response to the demands posed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said that the National Assembly would decide the date for the next general elections and former Pakistan PM’s “dictation won’t work.”
“I want to clarify to the leader of this group (PTI), your dictation won’t work. This house will decide when to hold elections,” Dawn newspaper quoted Shehbaz as saying.
He made these remarks while speaking during a Parliament session in Pakistan, as he lashed out at the PTI Chairman Imran Khan, who on Wednesday took the city of Islamabad hostage.
Pakistan witnessed mayhem in the country on Wednesday as clashes took place between police and PTI workers in major cities after authorities tried to block them from moving toward D-Chowk in the federal capital, following the Imran Khan’s vow not to vacate D-Chowk until a date for fresh polls.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief, who was ousted as Prime Minister through a no-confidence motion in April this year, gave the Shehbaz Sharif government a six-day deadline for announcing elections and dissolving assemblies warning that if the deadline is not met he would return to the capital with the “entire nation”.
This comes after the former Pakistan PM reached the capital city late Wednesday night, breaking through the barriers and braved police shelling to enter the Red Zone. They subsequently dispersed from the area after negotiations with the police.
While addressing his supporters on Thursday morning, Imran said that he had decided that he would sit at the D-Chowk until the government dissolved assemblies and announced elections.
“But of what I have seen in the past 24 hours, they (govt) are taking the nation towards anarchy,” he stated, stating that the government was trying to create a divide.
He said that the Shehbaz Sharif government would be happy if he staged a sit-in as it would lead to clashes.
‘Ran away after spreading chaos’
Pakistan government ministers and mouthpieces on Thursday claimed that former Prime Minister Imran Khan had “run away after spreading chaos” in the country as PTI protesters at Islamabad’s D-Chowk began dispersing after he gave the government a six-day deadline to call elections, failing which he would “return” to the capital, local media reported.
In a tweet, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said, “Imran Khan ran away after spreading chaos in the country.”
He said that the government had fulfilled its responsibility to stop the unrest and was now looking upon the state’s most important “pillar” for justice. He was referring to the government’s petition in the Supreme Court seeking contempt proceedings against Imran Khan for “violating” court orders with regard to the Azadi March, Dawn reported.
“The nation is watching [to see] how saboteurs and their masterminds who take undue advantage of court orders are treated. I have heard that justice is blind.”
After Imran’s speech, police officials said he departed after he gave the government a six-day deadline to call elections failing which he would return to the capital with the protesters.
Main roads in the capital have also been reopened as containers were removed.
A PTI supporter, who was present at the site, told dawn.com that he was “caught by surprise” when Imran Khan “decided to conclude the march”.
Another supporter who was at D-Chowk and declined to be named said that he was not disappointed and would return at a moment’s notice if their leader called them back. He also said he had brought food supplies for 10 days in case the sit-in lasted that long.
