Ahsan Iqbal accuses PTI of trying to 'sabotage' Senate elections

Interior minister rules out early general elections, says govt will complete its five-year tenure

In an apparent response to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) demand for early polls, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Sunday that the opposition party wanted to ‘sabotage’ the upcoming Senate elections after several unsuccessful attempts to overthrow the government through sit-ins in the past.

Speaking to the reporters in Narowal , the minister said the government would complete its constitutional tenure of five years, Express News reported.

“We will tell the world that Pakistan is a democratic country,” he added.

The statement comes hours after PTI central spokesperson Fawad Hussain Chaudhry said his party wanted early elections and was even ready to dissolve the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly for this purpose if other political parties reached a consensus on the matter.



Iqbal claimed that the PTI was worried about the Senate elections in March next year.

"The PTI knows that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will emerge victorious in the Senate elections," he maintained.

"That will be another setback for the PTI."

The minister said the Imran Khan-led party had been trying to overthrow the elected government through sit-ins and now it was trying to sabotage the Senate polls.

He advised the opposition party to help strengthen democracy in the country instead.



"The masses will vote in 2018 general elections on the basis of performance," Iqbal said.

"The PTI will be judged over its performance in K-P and the PML-N for setting records of public service in the provinces it ruled."