Rana Sanaullah says 'assemblies to complete tenure on August 16'

FAISALABAD: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Monday that the assemblies will complete its tenure on August 16 and a caretaker government will hold simultaneous elections in the country, ARY News reported.

While addressing a public gathering in Kamalpur village of Faisalabad, Rana Sanaullah said, “Fair and free elections will be held this year. It is necessary to hold fair and free elections in the country.

“However, Imran Khan will not accept the election results and level vote rigging allegations if we emerge victorious in the next elections. He [PTI chief Imran Khan] wants chaos in the country,” alleged Sanaullah.

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Criticising the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief, he said that Imran Khan rejected to hold talks with the opposition when he was ruling the country and now, he is rejecting to hold dialogues with the government.

“Khan’s government did nothing in its four-year tenure and he became the first prime minister who was removed from his office via no-trust move.”

The interior minister also blamed the ex-premier Imran Khan for signing an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on tough conditions. He said that the incumbent government hiked the petrol prices and ended up subsidies on gas and electricity due to IMF’s pressure.

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“We tried our best to get rid of the IMF’s condition but we were bound to implement the tough condition as the agreement was signed by the former prime minister.”

Sanaullah said that PML-N spent four years in opposition and several cases were lodged against them. He added that they backed the PML-N leadership instead of surrendering.

Earlier, Sanaullah said if the Punjab elections are held on May 14 then “no one” would accept the results.

Taking to the media, Rana Sanaullah said that he does not see elections to the Punjab Assembly taking place on May 14, adding that all political parties should sit at the negotiating table and decide a day for the elections, noting that the government is ready for talks.

“If elections are held on May 14, as some have suggested, no one would accept the results,” Sanaullah warned.

“The parliament annulled the bill to provide funds for the election. After the bill is rejected, the government has no authority to provide funds worth Rs21 billion,” he added.