Nearly two days after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced that his tenure would end on August 13, 2023, he announced that his government would hand over the power to a caretaker setup before the completion of its tenure next month, indicating the National Assembly is going to be dissolved days before the completion of its tenure to pace the general election in November.
However, Shehbaz’s change of mind appears to be advice from his allied Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari.
"Zardari in a meeting with PM Shehbaz on Saturday asked him to dissolve the National Assembly a couple of days before the government completes its tenure so that elections can be held in November," a senior PPP leader told PTI on Sunday.
Why Shehbaz is handing over early?
Under the Constitution, if the National Assembly completes its term, polls are to be held within 60 days. But if the assembly is dissolved prematurely, even if by a day, it would give the government 90 days to conduct elections.
The five-year term of the National Assembly commenced under the then-Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government of Imran Khan on August 12, 2018, and is set to be completed under the ruling coalition led by Shehbaz. Addressing a laptop distribution ceremony in Sialkot, Shehbaz said: “Our government will complete its term next month. We will hopefully go before the tenure’s completion and the new interim government will take over.”
He further said if his party (PML-N) wins the upcoming general elections, it will change the destiny of the country.
Shehbaz regrets neighbouring nations made greater progress
Earlier last week, while addressing an event in Islamabad, the Prime Minister acknowledged the current situation was not in the favour of the country and speculated uncertainty regarding the timing of the polls. "I assure you that our government will end on August 14, and whenever elections happen, the ECP will announce it, and I hope that whichever government comes prioritises education," Sharif said as the country continues to battle economic crisis for the past two years.
It is worth mentioning the current Shehbaz government came into power in April last year after throwing the Imran Khan regime. Since then, the government has been facing multiple turbulence-- be it economic, inflation or domestic unrest. Khan, who has been facing multiple charges, on several occasions demanded early elections. However, his demand was declined by the Election Commission.
Earlier in May this year, when Khan was arrested by National Accountability Bureau on corruption charges, the country witnessed massive violence wherein the protestors torched public properties including Army headquarters.
Pakistan was no longer in the race: Shehbaz
Meanwhile, addressing the event, PM Sharif expressed displeasure over the current situation and acknowledged that neighbouring countries made greater progress than Pakistan, mentioning a time when Pakistan used to compete with them. He also expressed his disappointment that Pakistan was no longer in the race when it came to competing with its neighbours. Notably, Pakistan is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the northwest and Iran to the west while China borders the country in the northeast. Although the relations with New Delhi remained tense, it received whopping funds from its "all-weather friend"- China.
The prime minister said he would be "grateful" to China for rolling over $5 billion in loans to Pakistan in the last three months “when we were in need.”
