Sanaullah challenges Imran to dissolve assemblies

This democratic government will complete its tenure without getting scared of empty threats, says interior minister

LAHORE:

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has challenged former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan to dissolve the provincial assemblies in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, adding that the incumbent government is a democratic one and will complete its tenure without getting scared of empty threats.

“Leave ifs and butts and dissolve assemblies,” the interior minister told the PTI chief while addressing a news conference in Lahore on Friday.

He said Imran Khan had been threatening the government for the last seven months that he was coming to Islamabad and that the government would not be able to find a place to hide. “I waited for him but he never came,” said the PML-N stalwart.

“Imran Khan announced dissolution of assemblies out of despair, now he should take action on that decision as well,” he maintained.

The minister further stated that “whatever Imran Khan has made [Punjab Chief Minister] Pervaiz Elahi write, must be sent to the governor… I will make sure that it gets approved by him today.”

While talking about Daily Mail’s apology to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he stated that the British newspaper has admitted their mistake. “The Sharif family has been proven non-guilty by the world. Now Imran Khan and Shehzad Akbar should also apologise over the allegations leveled against them,” he added.

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The minister further stated that the government’s job is not to take action against Imran Khan, but law-making. NAB laws have been made better, so that political victimisation does not take place. He went on to urge the NAB chairman to stop delaying working on merit as the government is now running out of patience.

In case of Punjab Assembly’s dissolution, he said PML-N will contest the election with full might.

While talking about the president, he stated that “Imran Khan doesn’t even listen to President [Arif] Alvi”.

Talking about the country’s economy, he stated that the conversation that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had with the president revealed that no single political party is in a position to bring betterment to the economic affairs at the moment.

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He further added that Prime Minister Shehbaz has invited all the parties to hold discussion about the betterment of country’s economy, however, PTI is running a campaign to make Pakistan default. “This is wrong. Even President Alvi is not given importance in PTI in this regard.”

The minister further revealed that CM Elahi is not in favour of dissolving assemblies, “but we have not had a conversation with him on this so far”. He added that in past, the party considered Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi for the position of chief minister. “If he leaves PTI and comes to us, then we can think about making new arrangements for him,” he remarked.