PUNJAB Chief Minister Ch Pervez Elahi, known for shrewd political moves, has, in a television interview, dilated upon a number of important issues including the decision of his party to side with PTI despite an earlier understanding with the PDM, general elections, dissolution of the Punjab Assembly and Imran’s anti-establishment posture.
The most important point he made was that the general election could be held either before or after October 2023 and both PTI and PML(Q) would gain in case elections are held on time.
The latest statement of the Punjab Chief Minister comes at a time when the PTI chief seems to be determined to dissolve the provincial assemblies of Punjab and KP with leader of Awami Muslim League Sheikh Rashid Ahmad claiming that Imran will get election date by the 20th of December or dissolve the two assemblies.
As against this, Ch Pervez Elahi says he has counselled Imran Khan to wait till March next year to pave the way for negotiations on the issue of electoral reforms and changes in the Election Commission.
He rightly pointed out that there was no legal or constitutional mechanism to force the Federal Government to dissolve the National Assembly and hold elections before completion of the term of the present assemblies in August next year.
This is a rational approach as the end of uncertainty about the future of the present assemblies would allow both the federal and provincial governments to focus on delivery and launch welfare projects and programmes for people of Pakistan before they go to the polls to decide their future.
Unfortunately, Pervez Elahi believes in contesting elections on the basis of performance while PTI has a history of relying merely on propaganda and social media despite the fact that the party’s popularity graph fell considerably before vote of no-confidence because of lacklustre performance in about four years.
In this backdrop, PTI needs to pay heed to the sagacious counselling of the Chief Minister and extend a helping hand to him in improving governance as there are scores of issues that need urgent attention of the rulers.
Elahi also endorsed an earlier statement of his son Moonis Elahi that former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Bajwa nudged his party to side with PTI during the process of no-confidence motion, a development that has bewildered political players and analysts.
The CM has, once again, opposed the tendency of describing people as Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq adding that General Bajwa showed them the right path to support PTI.
