LAHORE - In what appears to be the first sign of flexibility since his ouster from power in March, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Friday invited the federal government to sit with him on the negotiation table to fix a date for the general elections, the former premier wants as early as possible. But at the same time, the PTI chief’s invitation for talks to the government sounded like an ultimatum the way he summed up his offer. “Either sit with us and talk and give a date for the general elections; or else we will dissolve the assemblies,” he said while addressing a meeting of PTI’s Punjab parliamentary party at the chief minister’s secretariat here. He told the PDM parties that 66 percent of Pakistan will be going through elections if the two provincial assemblies of Punjab and KPK are dissolved. “Keeping all this in view, I have decided that either they sit with us to decide a date for the elections given that there will be an election in almost 66 per cent of Pakistan. Also, all these 12 to 13 parties in the PDM will be forced to take part in the electioneering, and consequently, the federal government will be frozen [because of the electioneering]”, Imran said in a bid to convince the government to announce an early date for the polls. Khan said he wanted to give a chance to the federal government to consider his party’s demand before taking the ultimate step of dissolving the assemblies. “We can give you the chance to sit with us and think of a situation that elections take place in 66pc of Pakistan and you keep sitting at the Centre?”, he remarked, adding that all functions of the federal government will come to a standstill because the PDM parties will get involved in the elections taking place in the two provinces. The former prime minister said that despite attempts by his party to convince the government for snap polls, the PDM alliance was not willing to hold elections. “It is because they fear defeat in elections. But they don’t care for Pakistan”, he added. Imran said the incumbent government had no roadmap to steer the country out of the current economic mess. ‘But they do have a roadmap, which I know, and that is to get me disqualified and put me in jail, and institute cases against other PTI leaders. And, I have been told that Asif Zardari has also talked of my disqualification and sending me to prison”, he averred. Khan also alleged that PDM leaders wanted to end cases against them as they had already changed NAB laws. He told the Punjab legislators that he had the full backing of Punjab Chief Minister Ch Parvez Elahi for dissolution of Punjab Assembly. He said that unlike the reports making rounds in the media the PTI and the PML-Q were on the same page on the issue of Assembly’s dissolution. “Parvez Elahi has given me his word to dissolve the assembly whenever I will ask him to do so”, he further told his party’s lawmakers. The PTI chief also told them that there will be no damage to the party even if the elections are held on time in August or September next year. “There will be no political damage to the PTI as our party’s popularity is increasing given the misgovernance of the government and the economic situation. The way they have been exposed before the people; they stand no chance to win elections. We have no problem if they continue…people know what Punjab Speed is’, he observed. He said the PTI wanted to go into early elections to give political and economic stability to the country. “Unless there is political stability, the economy will not grow. If we don’t go to elections now, political stability is not going to come and the incumbent government has no plan to get out of the current economic mess”, he maintained. He went on to say: “Pakistan is the only reason behind dissolution of assemblies... When a stable government comes, investment will come. The second reason we want early elections is that the federal govt has stopped Rs 176 billion due to be paid to Punjab and Rs 120 billion to KPK province. The GB, AJK and Balochistan governments are also facing a shortfall. In the given situation, if the economy is not growing and the provinces are also facing a financial crisis. If we don’t have funds, how will we complete development projects and show our performance”. He said that from Sunday onwards he would be chairing division-wise meetings of legislators to take them into confidence over the decision to dissolve assemblies. While responding to Imran Khan’s negotiations offer, Federal Interior Minister Rana Sana Ullah Khan Friday said the federal government would respond to the offer after consultation with the allies. The minister while talking to a private news channel late Friday said that Imran Khan had previously stated that he would not talk with political parties, today, once again “Khan deviated from his own words.” “Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) has always believed in political discussion to break down barriers and find solutions. When political leaders sit together, deadlocks are broken and ways are found,” he added. Answering a question on the next elections’ possible date, the interior minister said that it was premature to make any predictions on the date of the elections until after the negotiations with allied parties. Moreover, Imran’s announcement to dissolve the provincial assemblies was criticised by the minister, stating categorically that Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) would not support any unconstitutional action. “If elections were forced upon us by dissolving assemblies or by resigning en masse, coalition parties would vigorously campaign against it,” he asserted. Meanwhile, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb categorically said that the next general elections will be held on time in October next year. She said this on Friday while answering PTI Chief Imran Khan’s statement.