Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi on Thursday signed the summary for the dissolution of the provincial assembly.
In a brief one-line advice addressed to the Punjab governor, Elahi said: “I Parvez Elahi, chief minister of Punjab, hereby advise you to dissolve the provincial assembly.”
The advice, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was printed on a plain piece of paper which bore Elahi’s signature and today’s date.
The development came after Elahi, who had managed to secure a confidence vote from the Punjab Assembly in the early hours of Thursday, called on PTI chief Imran Khan at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry had announced that Elahi had signed the summary and the advice had been forwarded to the Punjab governor.
“If governor does not accept the advice then, the assembly is automatically dissolved after 48 hours.”
He made the remarks after a meeting between PTI Chairman Imran and Elahi at the former’s Zaman Park residence.
Fawad also said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly would be dissolved “day after tomorrow”.
He thanked Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leaders Moonis Elahi and Hussain Elahi as well as their lawmakers for standing with the PTI. He said that the country was headed towards general elections, adding that the PTI and Imran had “fulfilled their promise”.
He said that a letter would be sent to PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz in the next two days for finalising an interim government, adding that elections would take place in the next 90 days.
Fawad urged the federal government to abandon its “stubbornness”, asserting that the economy could not be fixed without holding new elections.
“It won’t make sense if two provinces, making up 70 per cent of the country, hold elections while the rest of the country doesn’t.”
Fawad called on National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to accept the resignations of PTI lawmakers so that elections could be carried out alongside the provincial seats.
Earlier in the day, Fawad had reiterated the PTI’s intent to dissolve the two assemblies. In informal conversation with reporters in Lahore, he said: “The decision to dissolve the assemblies has already been made […] In fact, we would want them to be dissolved today.”
