Former information minister Fawad Chaudhry confirmed on Monday that “informal communications” between the PTI and federal government, pertaining to the snap elections, had begun.

Former premier Imran Khan last week 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”.

“Either they can sit with us and talk, gave us a date for the general elections […] or else we will dissolve our assemblies,” he had said.

Imran’s offer came after 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 in November.

Speaking to the media in Lahore today, Chaudhry said that “informal communication” with the federal government had begun.

“We are trying to make the coalition representatives, especially Finance Minister Ishaq Dar […] who is more [determined] from the PML-N […] we told the president […] the problem is that the government is rapidly becoming irrelevant due to the economic situation.

“We have tried to make them understand that no system other than elections can bring stability in the country,” he told reporters.

Later, in an interview with ARY News, Fawad said that if talks with the government didn’t materialise by December 20, the party would dissolve Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies on December 21.

PTI working on improving ties with army

During the media talk today, Chaudhry asserted that his party was seeking “betterment” in ties with the armed forces and judiciary, not “deterioration” of their relationship.

“We don’t want our differences with the army or judiciary to increase,” he said. “We are trying continuously that our differences with the institutions decrease.

“But we are seeing that constantly, despite our efforts for betterment, [there is] deterioration in ties with the judiciary and the armed forces. Some elements are exacerbating the differences,” the PTI leader claimed.

He said that some people, “maybe the government are trying to ruin the relations we are trying to improve”.

Senior party leadership to discuss dissolution of assemblies

Talking about the dissolution of assemblies, Chaudhry said that the party had decided to hold a meeting with the senior leadership on Tuesday (December 6).

He admitted that there was a difference of opinion among lawmakers over submitting their resignations, but in the same breath contended that Imran had the final call on the matter.

“In this regard, we have kicked off meetings. We have called Lahore’s MNAs and MPAs to hear them out. Tomorrow, Imran has called a meeting of the party’s senior leaders to mull the strategy relating to politics and dissolution [of assemblies].”

The PTI leader also highlighted that the party was receiving notices from the Federal Investigation Agency. “There are reports in the media suggesting that the Election Commission of Pakistan is initiating action for the disqualification of Imran as the party chief.

“It is a mistake […] the political scene in Pakistan is incomplete without Imran Khan,” he added.