Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto warned on Thursday that the next elections could be bloody if all political parties did not agree to a code of conduct.
Addressing a session of the National Assembly, the chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) while speaking about snap polls said the elections should be held after electoral reforms. He added that allied parties wanted another ‘charter of democracy’.
“Even if it doesn’t see the light of day there should be at least some sort of code of conduct,” he said, adding all parliamentary parties, including PTI, needed to be taken on board on this issue.
The foreign minister stressed that in light of the “hateful situation, we have to come together on an electoral code of conduct, if the political forces do not come together, he continues, then the next election will be bloody.”
He said if the political parties chose to let go of democratic attitude then it could lead to violent confrontation.” We need to reconsider our approach as things are already heading that way,” he cautioned.
During his address, the foreign minister also claimed that a former minister had approached him a day before the no-confidence motion against then prime minister Imran Khan with a warning that martial law would be imposed if the opposition did not agree to their demand for snap polls.
The former ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) conveyed the threat to damage the no-trust vote but their efforts failed, the PPP chief said.
Bilawal added that Imran Khan wanted elections to be held as per his wishes without any electoral reforms. “He wants to create conditions for a third force to get a chance. But this strategy is not new,” the PPP chief said as he accused the PTI of hurling threats to impose martial law.
“Despite the provocations by Imran, all our institutions, including the judiciary and the establishment, continued to operate within the framework of the Constitution and law, and democracy prevailed,” the foreign minister added.
He said Imran was removed in a democratic manner and added that the opposition joined hands to save Pakistan from crises that were a result of the mismanagement of the former rulers. He said since April 3, the attacks on the Constitution by Imran and his party members, including President Arif Alvi, have continued.
“Instead of opposing our democratic initiative [to dislodge the government], the PTI has attacked democracy,” he said while demanding the formation of a commission to look into violations of the Constitution by the Imran government.
Demanding accountability for Imran Khan, Bilawal said the PTI chief was “carrying out attacks against our Constitution, national security and economic stability”. He considers himself a “sacred cow because no action has been taken against any of the selected ones till date”.
Ends/Online
