Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said arbitration is not the Supreme Court’s job and such matters should be discussed in parliament and asserted that the federal coalition wanted that polls should be held across the country on the same day.
The prime minister made the remarks while addressing the federal cabinet hours after he held an important meeting with coalition parties to discuss the possibility of talks with Imran Khan’s PTI and the date of the Punjab polls set by the top court.
He said parliament was the supreme institution and its decisions had to be accepted. He further said elections were an issue that needed to be decided in parliament and the appropriate time to conduct them was either in October or November.
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Foreign Minister and PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and other leaders of the ruling coalition attended the meeting.
The meeting comes ahead of the April 26 deadline, which the Supreme Court had set for political parties, to hold talks and evolve a consensus on the date for elections to the provincial and national assemblies. The apex court will resume hearing the case on Thursday.
PM Shehbaz Sharif says the National Assembly and the joint house have dealt with these challenges, regarding the matters of the SC, through constitutional and legal measures, but the situation remains challenging.
“This is our moral and political responsibility to respect the decisions previously taken by Parliament,” Shehbaz said.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been pushing for snap elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provinces where his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf: party ruled till recently.
The PTI dissolved the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies on January 14 and 18, respectively, in a bid to force the ruling PDM coalition in Islamabad to hold early general elections in the country.
Parliament and the judiciary have also locked horns over the holding of elections in the two provinces, as the cash-strapped government has refused to authorise the funds to meet the expenditures amidst the economic crisis facing the country.
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