Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Jan’s party, the Pakistan Justice Movement (PTI), is finalizing the dissolution, in the coming hours, of the state parliaments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, under its control, in a new political assault on power through new early elections.
It should be recalled that federal and provincial elections are usually held simultaneously in Pakistan, so an advance in the regional elections could end up affecting the electoral cycle as a whole. Jan has a majority in these two of the four provinces that make up Pakistan.
For the time being, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman has signed the order to dissolve the state assembly at the request of the state chief minister and senior PTI leader Pervaiz Elahi, according to Ary News sources. The state of Khiber Pakhtunkhua could follow suit in the coming hours, state chief minister, also of the PTI, Mahmud Jan, said in a statement reported by Geo TV.
Former information minister and senior PTI official Fawad Chaudhry has warned via Twitter that if the governor of Khyber does not proclaim the dissolution of the assembly it will be automatically dissolved at around 10 p.m. «Delay is not in Pakistan’s interest,» he has warned.
These dissolutions are, in a way, a fulfillment of the promise made late last year by the former prime minister to withdraw from Pakistani state institutions in retaliation for, he understands, the campaign of persecution he was subjected to during his tenure by the opposition, led by the Muslim League – Nawaz (MLN) party, created by his political nemesis and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Jan eventually left office after losing a no-confidence motion and has since become the scourge of the new government of PML-N Prime Minister Shebhaz Sharif.
In recent hours, the former prime minister has denounced an attack last night in which a senior police officer and two guards were killed in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Deputy Superintendent of Police Sardar Hussain and his two police guards were killed in an exchange of fire with terrorists in the Badhabir area in an attack attributed to the Pakistani Taliban.
For Jan, the attack was yet another sign of the need to cement his control of the state. «Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s government and police are fighting terrorism on the frontline, so they must be the focus and center of any counter-terrorism policy!» he said on Twitter.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
