Imran Khan to announce assemblies dissolution on Dec 17  

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has said he will make the announcement to dissolve Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies on Dec 17, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Addressing the people through a video link, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan said that there will be no more consultation on the matter of assemblies as he had taken the opinion of all the party leaders. 

He said that the assembly will be dissolved this month and the date of the dissolution will be made public during his address to the people at Liberty Chowk Lahore on December 17. 

It is pertinent that PTI will stage a power show at Liberty Chowk in Lahore on Saturday, (December 17), in which party chief Imran Khan is also anticipated to announce the party’s future course of action.

“I have completed consultations with the party leaders and we have decided that in a gathering at Lahore’s Liberty Chowk, I will give my nation the date for the dissolution of the KP and Punjab assemblies,” he asserted. 

The former premier observed that the dissolution of assemblies would pave the way for elections. 

He observed that the law says that as soon as assemblies are dissolved, elections should be held within 90 days. “So on Dec 17, I will give the date and after that 70 percent of the country will go into election mode,” he added.

“Simultaneously, our 123-125 National Assembly members whose resignations have not been accepted will ask the speaker inside the assembly to accept their resignations, he added. 

He lamented that country’s leaders are corrupt and convicts. “They do not care about what happens to Pakistan and when bad times take over the country, they will exit the country," he said.

The former prime minister refuted a general perception about him and said that he was not asking anyone for help, he wanted the establishment to be neutral and its prestige to rise. “During the tenure of Gen (r) Qamar Bajwa, the distance between the establishment and the people increased,” he observed. 

Imran Khan said Pakistan needs a strong army and it will be strong only when there is no interference. 

He reiterated that the PML-Q is on the same page with the PTI on the issue of the assembly's dissolution.

Khan said the coalition rulers were worried that if they step down then another government would be formed and their corruption cases would be reopened. "Their interests and the nation's interests are poles apart."

"I have never seen cases of big dacoits being closed in my 70 years of experience. I am sure that even banana republics don't do such things," Imran Khan said.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan said no country can progress without rule of law and justice as he claimed that Pakistan was on the "brink of destruction" as there was "no rule of law".

“The poor people are in jail as powerful people are receiving NROs, getting their cases closed, and coming back to the country," Imran Khan added.  

Khan said documentaries have been shot and books written on the corruption of two families that belong to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

"It is so saddening that Suleman Shehbaz came back to Pakistan and addressed a press conference claiming that he was a victim," Khan said as he asked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's son the reason behind the death of the people involved in the case.

The former premier lamented even the people belonging to the "Zardari mafia" will be forgiven, including his sister Faryal Talpur. "The powerful can only survive here," he added. 

“Anybody who understands the economy knows that the first rule is to ensure there is political stability as “markets can’t perform under uncertain situations,” he maintained. 

“Investors and businessmen are reluctant to invest their money in Pakistan as the risk of default had grown to 100% as compared to 5% which was left behind by PTI,” he added.

Earlier, the PTI chief chaired a consultative session with lawmakers from Central Punjab and Lahore, in which the members endorsed the decision to dissolve the provincial assembly.