March 10: Government nears agreement on date for dissolving assemblies

The government has decided on a date, but says final date will be announced after consultation with Punjab government.

The government made a decision in principle to dissolve national and provincial assemblies by March 10, pending consultations with the government of Punjab, Express News reported.

Dialogues with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will begin immediately, sources told Express News.

The date of the dissolution will be re-announced once the government of Punjab has been taken in confidence.

Express News Islamabad bureau chief Amir Ilyas reported that if Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif agrees with the government’s decision on the date of dissolution, elections will be announced soon afterwards.

The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) gave the go-ahead on Wednesday to Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to begin consultations with allies and opposition parties for the formation of a caretaker set-up and to decide a date for the upcoming elections.

A PPP core committee meeting also decided that Law Minister Farooq H Naek and Religious Affairs Minister Khurshid Shah would meet the chief election commissioner to discuss a recent ban imposed by the Election Commission (ECP) on all recruitments at the federal, provincial and local government levels with immediate effect.