PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Friday gave the federal government an ultimatum to either “sit and talk and give a date for the general elections” or “we will dissolve the assemblies”.

In a speech to the Punjab Parliamentary Party, he said: “Considering all this, I have decided that either this will happen that they sit with us [and decide a date for the polls or] imagine that there will be an election in almost 66 per cent of Pakistan — in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab — if we dissolve the assemblies.”

The PTI leadership greenlit plans to dissolve the KP and Punjab assemblies after Imran said the party would no longer be part of the corrupt system on the last day of his long march in Rawalpindi last week.

“All these sitting 12-13 parties of the PDM will be taken out in the elections so, then the government will be frozen [if we dissolve the assemblies],” the former premier said in his speech today.

Imran reiterated that “either they can sit with us and talk, gave us a date for the general elections […] or else we will dissolve our assemblies.”

“We can give you the chance to sit with us and tell us if you want that elections take place in only 66pc of Pakistan and you keep sitting at the Centre?”

The PTI chief lamented that despite their attempts, the PDM “did not even mention elections”. “They are scared that as soon as an election takes place, they will be beaten.”

Imran bashed the government for having “no roadmap” to take the country out of the current economic situation. He said their roadmap was to “end cases of their thefts worth Rs1,100 billion and somehow disqualify us to move us out of their way”.

He reiterated that Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi has assured him of his willingness to dissolve the assemblies “whenever I want”.

Elahi reiterated yesterday that there would be no delay in the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly once Imran gave the call.

Similarly, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan also announced yesterday that he would dissolve the provincial assembly immediately after being asked by his party’s chief to do so.

‘October 2023’

Soon after Imran’s speech, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb tweeted “October 2023” with a television screenshot of a news ticker with his demand on screen.

Speaking on Geo News programme “Naya Pakistan”, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the PTI chief has realised what politics are and this is why he is ready to sit down with his rivals.

The security czar recalled how former premier Imran was “ready to kill and die” for his cause earlier this year. “Now he is ready to sit,” Sanaullah said. “He has realised what politics are but this realisation came after Nov 25.”

Commenting on Imran’s threat of dissolving the assemblies, the minister said the government has been deliberating over the matter for the past few days and “maybe it would be beneficial for us if elections are carried out in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa”.