Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has proposed early general elections in the country after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took the party’s Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui into confidence over decisions made during PML-N huddle in London.
According to sources privy to the matter, the MQM-P strictly opposed the idea of raising fuel prices with Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui saying that they had to sacrifice their politics for the sake of the interest of the state.
“We should prefer state’s interest rather than our politics in ongoing testing times,” the MQM-P leader said during the meeting and suggested that electoral reforms could be carried out during a week. Holding general elections is the only way forward for resolving issues of the masses, they said.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif has tasked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to form a consensus among allies for a fresh election to deal with economic woes.
According to sources privy to the matter, the three-time prime minister asked Shehbaz Sharif to tell allies that they needed a fresh mandate to stabilize the economy.
“Long term government is needed to reach out to international lenders and make big economic decisions,” the elder Sharif said and added that tough decisions could only be taken once being assured that they could be reverted in a timely manner.
Nawaz Sharif further asked Shehbaz to secure guarantees that if they take tough measures then their government would be allowed to complete the incumbent tenure. “If Imran Khan could not be controlled then we should have to move towards a fresh election,” he said.
The sources within PML-N said that a final decision on fresh elections would only be taken after consulting allies and taking them into confidence. “A coalition government under a similar arrangement could be made after fresh elections in the country,” they said.
