Elections to be held as scheduled, Zardari tells MQM-P

Ex-President says coalition parties have burned their boats, there is no going back now

KARACHI:

Former president and Pakistan Peoples Party Co-Chairman Asif Zardari said on Tuesday the coalition parties in the government had burnt their boats, therefore, they would not retreat from their promise of fixing the economy and bringing necessary reforms.

Talking to a delegation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), led by it Convenor Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Zardari said that the next general elections would take place on its scheduled time and asked the delegation to desist from issuing statements for early polls.

During the meeting that took place at the Bilawal Hosue, both sides discussed the ongoing political situation, and particularly the progress on a bilateral agreement the parties had signed before the no-confidence motion against former prime minister Imran Khan.

According to sources, the meeting reviewed progress on several points of the agreement, including amendments to the local bodies system in Sindh. They agreed that all the issues would be resolved through dialogue soon.

A source quoted Zardari as telling the MQM that it should not give statements for early elections. “The elections will be on time. We have burned the boats, why would anyone back down now,” the sources quoted the former president as saying.

“The current economic situation of the country is bad, first it has to be fixed,” Zardari said. He assured the MQM-P that former prime minister’s long march on May 25 had failed, and he would fail in future also.

The MQM leadership, according to the sources, complained that the second-tier leadership of the PPP did not want progress on the bilateral agreement. Zardari assured that Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah would sit with them and progress would be made.

The MQM delegation included Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Kanwar Naveed Jamil, Javed Hanif and Sadiq Iftikhar. Chief Minister Shah and provincial ministers Nasir Shah, Saeed Ghani, Murtaza Wahab and others were also in attendance.