LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Central President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi says the Supreme Court is the last hope to hold the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa election as the rulers are trying every trick to avoid the polls.

He said the Shehbaz Sharif government wanted to create political instability in the country.

Mr Elahi was speaking to a delegation comprising KP Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, Rao Abdul Rahman, former provincial minister Bao Rizwan and other leaders, who called on him at his residence on Friday.

Mr Ghani briefed Mr Elahi about the progress on the petition filed in the Supreme Court related to the KP election and consulted him on political issues.

Despite the clear order of the Supreme Court, the PTI president said Shehbaz Sharif and the cabinet were adamant not to hold the elections. He said passing unconstitutional resolutions against the Supreme Court by the Parliament was contempt of court and each and every minister should be taken to task.

Mr Elahi said Shehbaz Sharif’s plan to make the army controversial would never succeed as the army always stood by the constitution and the masses.

He said the parliament itself was a product of the election and asked how it could oppose elections.

He said the caretaker government was doing everything that did not come under its jurisdiction except holding the elections.

Parvez Elahi said the Election Commission of Pakistan had begun implementing the decision of the Supreme Court and issued the schedule and the code of conduct. He said provocative speeches against the judiciary were also a violation of the ECP’s code of conduct and the commission must take notice of the government’s rhetoric against the judiciary.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2023