PPP leader Nisar Khuhro said on Monday that the PPP had postponed tomorrow’s (April 25) Sindh-wide protest against piecemeal elections in the country.

In a statement, Khuhro said that the party was postponing its protest in “a show of restraint”.

A day earlier, the PPP leader had announced the party’s decision to stage a province-wide protest, saying that Sindh would not let Pakistan be divided into two parts. “Sindh will only accept one-day polls, not piecemeal elections,” he had said.

The announcement had come in the backdrop of an impasse regarding elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab — where the provincial assemblies were dissolved earlier this year. While the PTI has been adamant about holding polls in the provincial legislatures, the government maintains its stance on holding polls across the country on the same day.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court (SC) — while hearing a PTI petition — had directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold general elections to the Punjab Assembly on May 14. However, the government had rejected the apex court’s orders.

After repeated back and forth last week, the SC on Thursday afforded a temporary respite to the country’s main political parties, giving them a week to develop a consensus on the date for elections to the provincial and national assemblies, so they could be held simultaneously across the country.

In a statement issued today, Khuhro urged all of the country’s institutions, including the judiciary, to “pay heed to the people’s voice” and hold elections on the same day.

“If attention is not paid to the people’s [demand], a new date for the protest will be announced,” he said, adding that Pakistan could not afford to hold piecemeal polls.

“Conducting separate polls will ruin Pakistan’s political system,” the PPP leader said, adding that doing so would also raise a question mark regarding the transparency of elections.

He further said that elections conducted on a single day after the completion of the assemblies’ five-year term would strengthen the political system.

Elections impasse

Earlier this month, the SC had directed the government to provide Rs21 billion to the ECP to conduct elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by April 10, and directed the electoral body to provide a report on whether or not the government complied with the order on April 11.

However, the government referred the matter to Parliament which defied the court’s orders and refused to issue the funds.

Earlier this month, the electoral watchdog had submitted a report to the Supreme Court in a sealed envelope. Though the contents of the report are not known, a source privy to the information told Dawn that the one-page report informed the apex court about the government’s reluctance to issue the Rs21bn needed for the purpose.

Subsequently, the court had directed the SBP to release funds worth Rs21bn for elections from Account No I — a principal component of the Federal Cons­olidated Fund worth Rs1.39 trillion — and send an “appropriate communication” to this effect to the finance ministry by April 17.

Following the top court’s orders, the central bank on April 17 allocated the funds and sought the finance ministry’s nod to release the amount.

The federal cabinet’s approval was required to release the amount from the FCF, while the government had to get the National Assembly’s approval for its release. However, on April 18 the coalition government managed through the NA the rejection of its own demand for the provision of Rs21bn as a supplementary grant to the ECP for holding polls in the two provinces.

Last week, the ECP, defence ministry and finance ministry submitted their respective reports in court.

The ECP report said that the staggering of elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was not feasible since it involved significant expenditures compared to holding of polls on the same day.

In its report, the defence ministry highlighted the need of holding the elections on the same day given the heightened security situation in the country. It also said that the armed forces would be able to carry out election duties by early October.

On the other hand, the finance ministry said that in the wake of the rejection on part of the National Assembly to a government-sponsored motion to grant Rs21bn to the federal government for meeting expenditures, other than charged, during the financial year ending June 30, 2023, in respect of the ECP for holding the elections in Punjab and KP, it was difficult to sanction the release of the funds.