LAHORE: The Pakistan People’s Party fears that governor’s rule or emergency may be imposed in Punjab to avert voting before election of the new chief minister of the province on April 6.

PPP Central Punjab general secretary and parliamentary leader Syed Hassan Murtaza told a press conference here on Monday that the federal government could impose emergency or governor’s rule in the province in order to sabotage voting for the election of the new leader of the house going to be held on April 6 in the Punjab Assembly.

Flanked by MPAs Makhdoom Usman Mahmood, Mumtaz Chang, Shazia Abid and Raees Nabeel, he said that going to elections, as per suggestions of Imran Niazi, without election reforms would be a futile exercise.

He said the PPP and other opposition parties would not accept elections under the ‘selected’ prime minister and now after dissolution of the National Assembly it was unconstitutional to call him the PM.

Mr Murtaza demanded that Imran Niazi and all other characters, including President Arif Alvi, National Assembly speaker and deputy speaker, involved in the “conspiracy” against the nation were guilty of high treason and should be tried under Article 6 of the Constitution.

He made it clear that PPP will not support any unconstitutional act. He warned that anyone involved in any wrongdoing with the country and violation of the Constitution would be taken to task.

He termed the calling of governors of Punjab and Sindh by Imran Niazi as unconstitutional because he was no longer the prime minister.

He said if the government had received the so-called letter on the US conspiracy against the national security of the country on March 7, then why did they thank the American representative on March 16 and invite the USA to the meeting of the Islamic countries’ foreign ministers.

The PPP leaders held Imran Niazi responsible for the abrogation of the Constitution in the parliament by getting declared the no-confidence motion against the prime minister as a conspiracy against the country.

While responding to the questions, Mr Murtaza said: “Today is April 4, the death anniversary of the founder of PPP and former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. And the judiciary can remove the black spot on its face by giving a verdict against the unconstitutional act of Imran Niazi.”

He said they didn’t have any expectations from Imran Niazi, who is a follower of former dictator Gen Ziaul Haq.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2022