Shehbaz Sharif said his government sacrificed politics to save the state.
Islamabad:
Dawn reported on Thursday that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the government would be handed over to a “caretaker setup” in August once the term of the legislature expires.
Yesterday, Sharif made a similar announcement, announcing that his government’s tenure would end on August 14.
However, Sharif did not specify whether the allies would go for a normal dissolution of the National Assembly (NA) when the term expires on August 12 or advise the President for an early dissolution.
The NA’s five-year term, which began under the then PTI government on August 12, 2018, will be completed under the PM-Shehbaz-led ruling coalition following the ouster of former Prime Minister Imran Khan through a no-confidence vote last April. year
At the start of a speech – televised – Prime Minister Sharif said he had been given the “sacred responsibility” to rule the country and work for its welfare in April last year.
“We will hand over this responsibility to the caretaker setup in August 2023,” Dawn quoted Sharif as saying.
He claimed that the government in power, within 15 months of its short tenure, had cleaned up the “remnants of the destruction” that had been “the work of the PTI” for the past four years.
Sharif added that his government had “sacrificed politics to save the state” in the past few months.
Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that the term of the coalition government will end on August 14 and the date for the next elections will be announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) “in October or November”, Geo News reported.
“The term of our government will end on August 14 and the Election Commission will decide when the elections will be held – whether in October or November,” Geo News quoted Sharif as saying.
Whoever forms the next government after the election should prioritize education so that they can make this country great, he added.
Home Minister Rana Sanaullah had earlier said that the assemblies may be dissolved before August 13 to facilitate the ECP.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has demanded that the polls be held on schedule as they eye their victory in the upcoming elections, Geo News reported.
The government is under pressure as the country goes through its worst economic crisis, with inflation at record highs and prices not falling despite the authorities’ claims.
Citing recent surveys, Geo News reported that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) – Pakistan’s ruling coalition government – has lost its popularity significantly and faces a tough task of winning the trust of the people in the upcoming elections.
As a result, the PML-N is eyeing the return of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif as he has strong support in Punjab, reported Geo News.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)