90 days have already passed: Marriyum

Information minister says majority of SC judges already dismissed polls plea

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Minister for Information Marriyum Aurnagzeb on Sunday said 90 days have already passed since the dissolution of provincial legislatures in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) provinces.

“What 90 days? 90 days are over. It is already late,” the minister told The Express Tribune, while commenting on Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial’s statement about timely elections.

Speaking at an event in Lahore on Sunday, CJP Bandial said: "If the Constitution states that elections will be held within 90 days [after dissolution of an assembly then] we have to implement it. We have no other way."

Marriyum said now political parties will hold a dialogue as the 90-day period has already passed.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party dissolved the provincial assemblies of the two provinces in mid-January and 90 days since dissolution of the legislatures completed in mid-April.

Referring to the general election for the National Assembly, she said these elections will be held on time once the assembly completes its five-year term.

She claimed that PTI chief Imran Khan does not want an election. “He just wants to come back into power. He had dissolved the Punjab and the K-P assemblies just because he wanted to return to power."

The minister said Imran Khan has been changing his statements.

She said Supreme Court’s judge Athar Minallah also raised questions about the intention behind the dissolution of the assemblies.

She claimed that the suo motu case about delay in announcement of date for the provincial assemblies’s elections had been dismissed with a vote of 4-3.

“Justice Minallah had categorically stated in his judgment that the intention behind dissolution of an assembly should be looked into. Assemblies can’t be dissolved at the whims of someone.

“Imran Khan was not even empowered to dissolve the assemblies as it was the chief ministers' job. [One of the chief ministers has]  admitted that he did not dissolve the assembly,” she added.