ISLAMABAD: Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah has said that threats cannot force mid-term elections in the country and the PPP does not support any such action.

“It will not be appropriate, if someone talks about mid-term polls in a threatening manner. I personally don’t approve of this. However, it will be a different issue, if a situation arises that (the Prime Minister) Nawaz Sharif himself decides to go for mid-term polls,” Mr Shah said while talking to reporters here on Tuesday.

The opposition leader also told the reporters that he had sent a legal notice to PTI chief Imran Khan for allegedly defaming him through allegations of corruption.

Through the notice, a copy of which is available with Dawn, Mr Shah asked Mr Khan to publicly issue an apology for levelling false allegations and pay Rs10 billion as damages within 14 days of the receipt of the notice. The notice has been served through PPP Senator Raza Rabbani.

The PTI chief in his recent speeches had alleged that the leader of the opposition was supporting the PML-N government because two corruption cases were pending against him in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

During his chat with reporters, Mr Shah lashed out at Mr Khan for his speech in the public meeting in Karachi in which Mr Khan had said that he had come to Sindh to wake up the people of Sindh.

“Imran Khan lives in a fools’ paradise. Sindhis are 8,000- year-old nation. Sindhis are poor, but they are awakened,” the PPP leader said.

Mr Shah said the PPP was holding a public meeting in Karachi on Oct 18 to support continuation of democracy and the event would prove that the people of Sindh were happy with the PPP government. He said the people of Sindh had rejected calls for Sindhu Desh and they had always voted for the federation.

Mr Shah said that the PPP was playing the role of a true opposition, saying that at a time when the PTI leadership was hurling abuses at the government from the container, the PPP was highlighting shortcomings of the government in parliament.

He said the prime minister was facing a difficult time because he had failed to fulfil promises he had made to the people during the election campaign.

He advised Mr Khan not to raise expectations of the people because he could also face the same fate. He warned that there would be serious threats to the federation, if PTI and PAT sit-ins succeeded.

The PPP leader said PTI’s vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi in his speech on the floor of the parliament did not talk about resignations. Similarly, he said, 18 PTI MNAs attended the session, but they also stayed silent, indicating that perhaps the resignations had been obtained forcibly from them. He said it had become necessary for the NA speaker to verify resignations.

Mr Shah reiterated his proposal to reduce the term of the government to four years, adding that this amendment could be made in the Constitution even through the parliamentary committee which was busy in finalising recommendations for improving election system in the country. He said if the term of the present government was reduced to four years, it would reduce the pressure on the government.

Mr Shah claimed that the PPP was not in a “blind alley”, rather it was on a “four-lane highway”. He said the government could be in a blind alley, but the PPP would not let parliament go into a blind alley.

The PPP leader said that party’s co-chairman Asif Zardari would spend Eid days in Lahore.

He said they had asked the National Assembly speaker to allow live transmission of proceedings of the house so that the people could see the role of their elected representatives in parliament.

The PPP leader claimed that the country remained under democratic rule only for about nine and half years. He went on to say that there was “controlled democracy” even during the first two terms of both MS Benazir Bhutto and Mr Nawaz Sharif as prime ministers. He alleged that politicians were being intentionally maligned through propaganda in the country.

Published in Dawn, October 1st , 2014