Iqbal flays Imran over early poll demand

Interior minister says PTI chief fears losing Senate elections

Federal Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday criticised opposition politician Imran Khan over the latter’s demand for an early election in the country.

“If you are demanding early elections, it means you want the caretaker government for more than 90 days,” Iqbal told journalists in Lahore.

Slamming the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman for his anti-government remarks, the interior minister said Imran had been issuing warnings to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led government ever since it came to power.

Iqbal went on to claim that the PTI MPA’s have turned against the party chief in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), a province where PTI rules. “He [Imran] fears the Senate elections because if his party loses it will have negative repercussions on the party’s election campaign,” the minister said.

The interior minister said federal government will complete its legal term and delimitation of constituencies will be carried out in the light of the recently-held population census. “We still need 2-3 months for the delimitation process to complete.”

In response to a question regarding the terrorist attacks in Balochistan, Iqbal said such incidents were aimed at sabotaging the multi-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. “These incidents have risen because of the Indian-sponsored cross-border attacks from Afghanistan,” he said, adding the government was planning to increase the number of security forces’ personnel in the Pak-Afghan border region.