Rejecting the call for snap polls by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday said elections would be held on time despite the opposition’s call, which was the only party calling for early polls.
Talking to reporters during his visit to a Utility Store, the prime minister expressed concern over Nawaz’s statement in which he had warned that no institution should send the government packing. “Nawaz Sharif has been talking about elections since the PPP came into power,” he said, adding that the federal and provincial governments had come into power through elections and “we will also go through the electoral process”.
“Let me tell you that all state institutions are working within their constitutional ambits and are following democratic norms and processes. I am not aware which institution Nawaz Sharif is talking about,” Gilani said, while advising the PML-N chief that the state institutions should not be dragged into political affairs. Talking about the unrest in Karachi, he said he had talked to the Sindh governor and the chief minister and had also been briefed by Interior Minister Rehman Malik and the Sindh inspector general of police on law and order in Karachi.
Gilani said he had talked to MQM chief Altaf Hussain and consultations were directed towards bringing normalcy to the troubled city.
There will be no snap polls: Gilani to Nawaz
