‘Dark period’
Islamabad
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the former ruling party, on Sunday issued a ‘white paper’ on the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government’s “one-year dark period”.
In its white paper, the PTI — whose government was toppled on April 9 last year through a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly — highlighted the incumbent government’s “poor governance, rising inflation and other issues”.
‘Will take to streets if elections are not held’
Earlier today, Imran Khan — in a video address marking one year since his ouster — threatened to take to the streets if the elections are not held in the country.
“There is no other way except the elections,” he said. It is pertinent to mention here that the Supreme Court (SC) on April 4 declared the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision on the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) elections null and void, ordering to hold snap polls — a persistent demand forced by the PTI chairman after he dissolved the assemblies in both the provinces. The decision was announced by a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar as members, which declared the ECP’s decision to hold polls on October 8 instead of April 30 illegal.
The Supreme Court, in its verdict, states that the ECP’s order dated March 22, 2023, is declared to be unconstitutional, without lawful authority or jurisdiction, void ab-initio, of no legal effect, and is hereby quashed.
“Neither the Constitution nor the law empowers the commission to extend the date of elections beyond the 90 days period as provided in Article 224(2) of the Constitution,” the verdict said.
