PDM govt holding NSC meeting to delay polls, claims Imran

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday said that the PDM  coalition government has called a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) in an attempt to use national security as pretext for the postponement of elections.

The top civil and military leadership of the country are scheduled to participate in Friday's all-important NSC meeting, convened by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while the heads of the country's intelligence agencies will brief the participants on the national security situation.

The top military and civilian leadership, including the defence minister, interior minister, information minister, finance minister and other important cabinet members will participate in the NSC meeting scheduled to take place at 11am on Friday at the Prime Minister House.

The huddle of the powerful body comes against the backdrop of a deepening constitutional crisis in the country as the federal government has refused to accept the Supreme Court’s decision on the Punjab elections.

“It is now clear what PDM wants - any which way to get out of elections,” Imran wrote on his official Twitter account.

He said that the government brought in an “unconstitutional bill” on the Supreme Court, and a National Assembly resolution against the judiciary.

“Now tomorrow an NSC mtg (meeting) [has been] called to try and use security as pretext for postponement of elections. This will pit armed forces directly against not just judiciary but also the nation,” he added.

Earlier in the day, the National Assembly passed a resolution against the top court's declaration that the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to postpone elections in Punjab was “illegal”.

The three-member bench — headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan — had also fixed May 14 as the date for the poll in the province.

Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) leader Khalid Magsi presented the resolution before the National Assembly after it was prepared by the coalition parties of the incumbent government.

Reading out the resolution to the assembly, Magsi said that the three-member bench ignored the majority decision of the four judges who were previously part of the bench. He added that the judgement violated the traditions, precedents and procedures of the court itself.

He continued that the minority was imposed over the majority and that the parliament rejects the decision of the three-member minority bench and declared the decision of the majority bench ineffective according to the Constitution and law.