Political progress: Sharifs must resign says Elahi

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid leader Pervaiz Elahi said on Saturday that the current political crisis would only end if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif resigned from their posts. Talking to reporters, Elahi said that governor’s rule would be imposed in the Punjab after Shahbaz’s resignation. “Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) started their protests together. They will jointly formulate their strategies,” the PML-Q leader said. Elahi accused the prime minister of trying to create controversy through his remarks in the National Assembly. “This is not the first time Nawaz has gone back on his promise. He has also refused to acknowledge the 10-year agreement that he signed before leaving for Saudi Arabia after the military coup. Later, a Saudi prince had to come to Pakistan to ask him to abide by the agreement,” Elahi said. He said that Nawaz was ineligible under article 62 and 63 of the Constitution and thus unfit to serve as the prime minister. Elahi said that PML-N had won the 2013 general elections through rigging. “The elections were cleverly rigged to give the PML-N a clear majority in the National Assembly,” he said. Elahi said that the Punjab government had not registered the FIR into the Model Town incident as it had promised.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2014.