PTI offers talks on snap polls

Fawad says PTI may ban Rana, Tarar from entering Punjab

ISLAMABAD:

PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry has said that after regaining power in Punjab on July 22 — the date for the run-off elections for chief minister's office — the new provincial government could ban the entry of Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Punjab Home Minister Attaullah Tarar in the province.

Fawad's warning came a day after the interior minister claimed that five PTI MPs could “disappear” during the voting for Punjab's chief minister

Speaking during a news conference on Tuesday, the former information minister also advised Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to keep his two leaders at an arm's length as arrest orders could be issued for them.

Meanwhile, Fawad expressed his party's willingness to hold talks with the prime minister provided a date for fresh general elections was announced.

He suggested that a framework for the polls could be worked out by political parties but was quick to add the caveat that a "reconstitution" of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should be a most important feature of the prospective road map.

The PTI leader said that PPP president Asif Ali Zardari was well aware of the fact that PM Sehbaz's government was on ventilator and PTI has the power to send this government packing anytime.

He claimed that Zardari never stood with Bhutto, "so could he support the PML-N" and added that the PPP leader was only interested to protect his party government in Sindh.

He further lashed out at the government for making false cases against the PTI leaders during the events leading up to the Azadi March on May 25 and during the Punjab by-polls.

Fawad went on to say that Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja should resign as he has little time left or else he would eventually be shown the door. He called for the formation of a new and credible ECP which has the support of all political parties.

Read PML-N congratulates PTI on ‘landslide victory’ in Punjab by-polls

Criticising Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz, Fawad demanded his resignation from the office in line with political traditions. “Hamza Shahbaz should be ashamed. His party suffered a humiliating defeat, even Maryam Nawaz and Malik Ahmad accepted it. He should have tendered his resignation immediately after it,” he said.

He pointed out that PTI could topple the federal government in a day if it wanted but said that five MNAs belonging to ruling coalition were in contact with the PTI. "We are giving leeway to PM Shehbaz to take the right decision on general elections.”

“We can boldly ask President Arif Alvi to initiate a vote of no-confidence against the current government but we are giving it a chance,” he said.

Brushing off the notion that the interim setup would need more than three months to deal with the deteriorating economy, he added that economy was not the responsibility of the caretaker government.

He said PTI wanted an interim government for three months, as the elected government would deal with the economy. Stressing that the ECP was biased against PTI, he added that it changed voter lists to ensure that PTI loses the Punjab by-elections.

Talking about the increase in the value of the dollar, he said that the dollar was stable three months ago, large scale manufacturing had increased.

He said that now, despite the IMF agreement, confidence in the market and currency was not restored, as the dollar has become expensive by Rs10.