PTI chief wants civil war n Not PTI but govt to decide when to hold elections: Marriyum

LAHORE   -   Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on Tuesday castigated PTI chief Imran Khan for demanding the res­ignation of Chief Elec­tion Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja, urging the coun­try’s institutions to take action against the for­mer premier.

After the PTI’s land­slide victory in the re­cent Punjab by-elections, Imran had criticised the Election Commission of Paki­stan (ECP) for allegedly being biased. He had also claimed that the CEC was favouring the PML-N in electoral battles. Imran also said that his party won the by-polls despite the use of state machinery as he insisted that early elections were still the only solution to the country’s economic prob­lems. At Tuesday’s press con­ference, Aurangzeb took ex­ception to Imran’s demand and said: “This man wants civil war. He has attacked ev­ery institution in the country, tried to sabotage Pakistan’s foreign policy and ruined the economy. “Even on April 3, when the honourable court opened its doors because of his rampage against the Con­stitution, he attacked the judges and accused them of taking decisions behind closed doors.” On April 3, the former National Assem­bly deputy speaker had scut­tled the no-confidence mo­tion against Imran, following which the president had dis­solved the lower house of Par­liament. This had prompt­ed the apex court to take suo motu notice and eventually restoring the NA which sub­sequently passed the no-con­fidence motion and ousted Imran from office. The minis­ter also reiterated that fresh elections would only be held when the ECP and the incum­bent government deems it to be appropriate.