Imran Khan ready to wait for elections in October on one condition

LAHORE, APR 5: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan — who has been demanding early national elections since his ouster in April last year — said that he was ready to wait till October for elections, however, his decision depends on the willingness of the Pakistan Democratic Movement-led coalition government.

The former prime minister — who was thrown out of office via a no-confidence motion — said that if the coalition government shares a roadmap with him ensuring that everything will be in order then he can wait till October for the elections.

Addressing his party worker and supporters via video link, the PTI chief lauded the Supreme Court’s verdict of setting aside the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) ruling and ordering the Punjab Assembly polls on May 14.

A day earlier, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court ordered the ECP to hold elections in the Punjab province on May 14, pushing back against government efforts to delay the ballot and giving Khan a boost.

“The incumbent government did not accept the SC verdict and it wanted to delay the polls”, Khan claimed, expressing his concerns that efforts would now be made not to implement the decision.

The cricketer-turned-politician said: “The incumbent government is using all tactics to escape from elections, which is a part of the London plan”.

Since an assassination attempt on him in November last year, Khan has been talking about a “London Plan” — according to him which includes conspiracy regarding his murder and where commitments were made to bring “absconder” Nawaz Sharif to power as quid pro quo for agreeing to one appointment.

Regarding the crackdown on PTI workers, the former prime minister claimed that the Punjab caretaker chief minister, Mohsin Naqvi, had been brought to target the PTI as around 3,100 party workers had been arrested.

He claimed that several fake cases had been registered against him and party workers to keep the PTI out of the polls.

Terming the institution of the judiciary as a “ray of hope” for the nation, Khan claimed a campaign was underway against the judges and cautioned it was high time the nation should stand by them.

He alleged that mafias in Pakistan had accumulated wealth worth trillions of rupees through unfair means and added that the Sharifs had always tried to target their rivals through the registration of fake cases and running smear campaigns.