Islamabad /LAHORE    -     Former prime minister Imran Khan Saturday announced that his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party is ready for elections on a single date if the incumbent coalition government dissolved the remaining assemblies by May 14. In a televised address to the nation today from his Zaman Park residence, the PTI chairman said: “If you dissolve the assemblies by May 14 then we are ready on a single election date with you.” Imran said his negotiation team comprising PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry and Senator Ali Zafar will go for the meeting on crucial election talks with the government team on May 2 (Tuesday). “It will be a national election and we feel we are ready for it,” he said. “This is the only way stability will be achieved, the economy will improve and the conditions of the people will transform.” Imran lambasted the government leaders for suggesting passing the new budget first before bad intentions in this,” he said.

“Win the polls first, get the five-year mandate and then pass the budget.” The PTI chairman questioned that “what’s the point of them presenting a budget when someone else will have to carry the weight of it.”

He said that the “real budget” would be the one passed by the government which came to power after winning the elections. The former premier stated that any notion of the assemblies being dissolved after the budget would be “unacceptable” for the PTI.

Imran Khan also saw the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government’s “ill-intentions” behind its proposal to hold elections simultaneously after this year’s budget.

The budget is traditionally presented within the first two weeks of June and the federal government has maintained that it would be too early to hold general elections the next month, stressing for holding polls later this year.

The federal government and the opposition party PTI are in negotiations over a date for holding elections across the country on directions of the Supreme Court — and a final meeting is expected next week. “[The government] is saying that first, it would pass the budget, and then hold the election. This shows its ‘ill-intention’,” Khan — who was ousted as the prime minister in April last year — said during a session with PTI workers in Lahore.

Meanwhile, Rejecting the attempts to sabotage the talks, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Saturday decided to continue the negotiations with the government on the framework of the elections within the ambit of the Constitution.

A decision to this effect was taken in a meeting of senior PTI leaders chaired by party chairman Imran Khan at his Zaman Park residence here.

PTI Senior Vice President announced the decision in a statement on Saturday. He said that keeping in view the orders of the Supreme Court (SC), the PTI decided to continue the talks with the government and the final agenda would be discussed in the next round of talks scheduled for Tuesday. Lashing out at the government, Fawad strongly condemned the raid on PTI President Parvez Elahi’s house and the continued detention of PTI Senior leader Ali Amin Gandapur despite being granted bail. Fawad stated that the arrests of workers were making the negotiation process meaningless. “If the government negotiation team cannot play any role in maintaining the atmosphere after the assurance, how will they make big decisions?”, he asked Earlier, Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar contacted Tehreek-e-Insaf’s negotiating team chief Shah Mehmood Qureshi and expressed great regret over the attack on the house of Tehreek-e-Insaf President Ch Pervez Elahi and the vandalism of the sanctity of the premises. Vice Chairman Tehreek- e-Insaf Shah Mehmood Qureshi informed Ishaq Dar about the sentiments of the family of Ch Parvez Elahi after the incident. Qureshi also conveyed Finance Minister Dar about the sentiments of Tehreek- e-Insaf on the illegal attack on Elahi’s house.

Ishaq Dar assured the PTI leader that the federal government had nothing to do with the attack on the house of Ch Parvez Elahi.

Ishaq Dar while putting all the debris of the operation on Parvez Elahi’s residence on the caretaker government said that this police action had been taken on behest of caretaker Punjab Government, adding that he will inform his leadership about the sentiments of Tehreek-e-Insaf regarding the operation. Ishaq Dar is expected to contact Tehreek-e-Insaf again soon in this regard.

Meanwhile, Fawad expressed serious reservations over the what he called highly controversial and full of faults census results, which would result in reducing seven national assembly seats of Punjab and one of Karachi. He said that the results of the new census were devastating because the whole process was highly controversial and unbelievable.

He said that the results of the new census were devastating because the whole process was highly controversial and unbelievable.

Fawad Chaudhry said that the process was full of mistakes adopted only to stop the elections, as a result of which the country would suffer immensely.