CM Elahi signs summary for dissolving Pakistan’s Punjab assembly

Tariq Butt, Correspondent

Pakistan's Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi on Thursday signed the summary for dissolving the provincial assembly, and if the governor did not dissolve it immediately, it would stand dissolved 48 hours later.

Elahi signed the summary during a meeting with Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan at the latter’s residence.

Senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry told reporters that Elahi’s advice had been forwarded to Punjab governor Balighur Rehman. "If governor does not accept the advice then, the assembly will be automatically dissolved after 48 hours.”

Chaudhry made the remarks after a meeting between Imran Khan and Elahi at the PTI chairman’s Lahore residence. Elahi had managed to secure the confidence of 186 lawmakers in a session that began on Wednesday and ended in the early hours of Thursday.

Chaudhry also said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly would be dissolved "day after tomorrow.” He thanked Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leaders Moonis, Elahi’s son, and Hussain as well as their lawmakers for standing with the PTI. He said that the country was headed towards general elections, adding that the PTI and Imran Khan had "fulfilled their promise.”

He said that a letter would be sent to the leader of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the next two days for finalising an interim government, adding that elections would take place in the next 90 days.

Chaudhry urged the federal government to abandon its "stubbornness,” asserting that the economy could not be fixed without holding new elections. "It won’t make sense if two provinces, making up 70 per cent of the country, hold elections while the rest of the country doesn’t.”

Chaudhry called on National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to accept the resignations of PTI lawmakers so that elections could be carried out alongside the provincial seats.