Imran Khan, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said that he was willing to wait until October for elections, but that his decision depends on the coalition government led by the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s willingness. Since his ouster in April of last year, Khan has been calling for early elections.
The former prime minister, who lost his position as a result of a no-confidence vote, said he could postpone the elections until October if the alliance government provided a roadmap assuring that everything would be in order.
The PTI leader thanked the Supreme Court for overturning the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision and ordering the Punjab Assembly elections for May 14 in a video message to his party members and followers.
A three-member Supreme Court bench’s order to conduct elections in the Punjab province on May 14 the day before gave Khan a boost and rebuffed government attempts to postpone the vote.
Khan asserted, voicing his worry that efforts would now be made not to execute the ruling, “The incumbent government did not accept the SC verdict and it wanted to delay the polls.”
The former cricketer turned politician claimed, “The current government is using every tactic to avoid elections, which is a part of London plan.”
Since a failed assassination attempt on him in November of last year, Khan has been referring to a “London Plan” in which, in exchange for agreeing to one nomination, promises were made to install “absconder” Nawaz Sharif as prime minister.
The former prime minister asserted that Mohsin Naqvi, the interim chief minister of Punjab, had been called in to target PTI members because 3,100 of their members had been detained.
He alleged that numerous false cases had been filed against him and party members in an effort to prevent the PTI from running in the elections.
Khan described the judiciary as a “ray of hope” for the country, asserted that there was a campaign against the judges, and he urged the country to support them.
He asserted that mafias in Pakistan amassed wealth amounting to trillions of rupees through dishonest means, and he added that the Sharif family had consistently attempted to target their competitors by filing fictitious cases and waging smear campaigns.
