LAHORE: Adding to the worries of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, police intelligence has reported that the general election due early next year will not be held on time and that the delay may span months or years, not weeks.
The report was presented to Nawaz Sharif by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif when the former returned from a three-day Dubai visit. The report has been prepared by the Special Branch of Punjab police.
The warning issued by Shahbaz yesterday about a civil war if elections are delayed gives credence to the news that such a report has been submitted to the party leadership.
PML-N media coordinator Tariq Azim admits that the meeting had discussed local political situation besides other issues, but denied that any such report was ever taken up.
The party is already apprehensive of the atmosphere being created by certain judgments of the superior judiciary. It fears that the Supreme Court’s verdicts on Asghar Khan’s petition, the Balochistan government and the Karachi law and order situation may go against the democratic set-up, says a party official.
Slogans like ‘save state, not politics’ by leaders like Tahirul Qadri are also a matter of concern for the PML-N, which apprehends that powers that be are behind all these shows and are planning to deprive the party of its ‘term in power’.
“The elections are vital to the existence and development of the country and any delay in the general election will be disastrous for the country and the nation,” he said. Internews
