Islamabad (Web Desk): Former premier and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Monday said that he was giving some more time to the government reiterating his call for general elections saying that that he would not delay his party's long march towards Islamabad beyond October.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the PTI chief warned the government that multitudes of people would take to the streets responding to his call to the nation for the anti-government march.
He accused his political rival and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif of attempting to delay elections, saying that he is afraid to got to polls because of the PTI’s constantly growing popularity.
Imran Khan said that Nawaz was waiting for the PTI’s wave of support to diminish before elections could be held.
The former premier alleged that the elections were held in the constituencies where PTI was weak and the ruling coalition fielded joint candidates to ensure his party's defeat.
He said that the government did not wish to hold elections and used floods as an excuse. "They said that there were floods. But in the constituencies where elections were held, floods did not have an effect there."
Speaking about the National Assembly seat the PTI lost in Karachi's Malir district, Imran accused the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of rigging the election. "I have complete evidence of PPP rigging the elections like they always do in Sindh," he said.
“Sindh’s election commissioner was on the provincial government’s payroll. We reject [Malir's] by-election and demand re-election.
He said the nation had rejected this legislature as well as this government and wanted new polls across the country.
The PTI chairman also vowed to raise the issue of violence being inflicted upon PTI Senator Azam Swati by filing a petition in the Supreme Court.
He added that special sessions will also be called in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assemblies to highlight the issue while the party will also take the matter to international organisations, including the United Nations and the European Union.
Imran Khan said that a high-profile appointment such as that of the army chief should not be made by “criminals like Nawaz or Zardari”. “The army chief should be appointed on merit,” he said.
The former premier ruled out the possibility of dialogue with the government, saying “this is very hard to do as you can talk to Baloch and Sindhi nationalists, but not with criminals.”
"The ultimate goal of the ruling coalition was to secure a National Reconciliation Order (NRO), a reference to relief in corruption cases," Khan added.
It is pertinent to mention that PTI managed to secure six out of eight National Assembly seats in the crucial by-election on Sunday, while the PPP won two, NA-157 Multan and NA-237 Karachi, which were bagged by the PTI in the 2018 general elections.