Govt is petrified of elections, willing to violate constitution: Imran

Lahore: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan said: “Government is petrified of losing the elections because all opinion polls show they are going to be decimated, therefore, they are just running scared of the election and they are willing to even violate the constitution, in an interview with international media Al Jazeera at his Zaman Park home in Lahore.

Imran Khan stated that the constitution leaves no doubt that elections have to be held in 90 days. Therefore, it will be very difficult to defend anyone who then thinks that the elections can be delayed.

“When I dissolved my two assemblies, we got the top lawyers, we looked at the constitution, every lawyer in Pakistan said the moment you dissolve your assemblies, elections have to be held within 90 days,” the former prime minister added.

He further said that this is unambiguous. So the moment you get out of 90 days, you are in violation of the constitution. And once that happens, who decides when will elections happen? If the government says elections in October, why not in December, why not next year?

Referring to Pakistan’s history Khan said: “When General Zia ul-Haq—former military ruler of Pakistan from 1977-1988— came into power, he said I will hold elections in 90 days,” adding that the moment he got away, we lost 11 years.

PTI chief continued that if the government does not accept the Supreme Court verdict, it means they are now violating the constitution. In that case, the Supreme Court could slap contempt on them.

“Let me assure everyone that all the people of Pakistan would be standing with the Supreme Court. I think it won’t be just the PTI. You will have the lawyers’ community, all the legal community, they will be standing on one side,” Imran claimed.