LAHORE - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan claimed the other day that he had dissolved the Punjab and KPK assemblies on the advice of the former army chief General retired Qamar Javed Bajwa whom he had been accusing of toppling his government in April last year.
In an interview to a news channel aired on Sunday, Imran Khan recalled one of his meetings with General Bajwa held in the presence of President Dr Arif Alvi and said that the top general told him to dissolve the two provincial governments if he wanted to have early elections.
The PTI chief also gave another reason for dissolving the provincial governments in that interview. “When we dissolved our governments, it was in the background of senior PML-N leaders’ statements that if you want elections, you should dissolve your governments. The statements of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Maryam Nawaz Sharif are on record in this record. So, we dissolved the governments and now they are running away from elections”, he said. In a lighter vein, Imran Khan likened the current stance of the PDM parties on holding elections with the cricket matches played by schoolchildren who would sometimes run away from the ground along with the wickets seeing a clear defeat.
“After this [dissolution of assemblies], they did like the children do in a playground. They pull out the wickets and run away seeing a clear defeat. Now, we are calling them back to play with us, but they are running away from elections”, he said.
To a question about negotiations over joint elections, Imran Khan said that they [government] wanted to use negotiations to delay the elections.
“I think they are just buying time, using delaying tactics, waiting for the May 14 to pass and then take the elections beyond October. But we are adamant on Punjab elections to be held on May 14 as the Supreme Court has already given its verdict on it. We have told them that if they had any proposal about joint elections, we are ready for talks”, he elaborated his point.
To a question, Imran clarified that he had given the mandate to hold negotiations [with the government] to Shah Mahmood Qureshi and not to Asad Qaiser. “Shah Mahmood Qureshi has not yet been contacted for negotiations”, he added.
Imran Khan also accused General Bajwa of telling him lies about everything. He also revealed that a leader from a Middle East country had informed him a year ago that General Bajwa was not sincere to him. He said he also had similar reports from the intelligence bureau that Bajwa wanted to bring Shehbaz Sharif into power.
In reiteration of his previous statements, the PTI chief said that despite the fact that General Bajwa and the intelligence agency had the information that the PDM leaders had stolen the money from the national kitty and stashed it abroad, he still wanted to give them 'NRO' as he had planned an extension for himself.
To another question, Imran expressed his readiness for holding joint elections in July this year if Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif dissolved the National Assembly by next month. He also said that his party will not allow the government to pressurise the Supreme Court to run away from elections.
He also said that the caretaker governments in both Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had lost their legal cover after the expiration of stipulated 90 days. He demanded that the caretaker governments should be dismantled and replaced with a new neutral interim setup.
To a question about making Usman Buzdar as the Punjab chief minister, he recalled; “When we were about to form our government in Punjab, three groups were formed in the party. Buzdar was brought because there was no opposition to him”,
Asked about not giving party tickets for Punjab Assembly elections to some aspirants, Imran Khan said: “Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Hammad Azhar and Fawad Chaudhry had been our federal ministers. If I put them all in Punjab, then who will I work with in the federation? Countries do not run on wishes”, he averred, adding that no decision had been taken yet about the party candidate for the slot of the Chief Minister of Punjab.
He said he was trying to make the PTI a party which believes in merit. “After the elections, the party will hold an intra-party election first so that merit can be brought to the party. To a question about General Bajwa’s stance on the Kashmir issue, Imran said: “Whoever believes in Pakistan's vision cannot forget Kashmir. There were some people who said fix the relationship with India. There were some people who wanted a relationship with India for their own benefit. But, until India restores the status of Kashmir, there could be no normalization of relations with India”.