Islamabad, July 20 After landslide victory in the bypolls to 20 constituencies of Pakistan's Punjab province and coming in a commanding position to regain the provincial government through the upcoming elections of the Chief Minister; Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has reiterated his demand for early general elections in the country, a demand rejected by the coalition ruling government under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) government, after detailed consultation with its coalition partners, has unanimously rejected Imran Khan's demand and decided that the general elections in the country would be held on their scheduled time, disposing off the political pressure being inserted by Imran Khan.
The decision was made during a joint meeting of the ruling parties and its coalition partners in Lahore.
"The government has decided that it would complete its tenure," said a source with knowledge of the outcome of the meeting.
It is pertinent to mention here that election for Punjab Chief Minister are to be held on July 22, where, as per statistics, PTI and its partner parties are leading in terms of votes, and are looking in a strong position to have their Chief Minister elected.
The majority was reached after PTI surprised everyone by its performance in the bypolls, in which, it secured at least 15 out of the 20 seats.
Imran Khan, after getting majority in Punjab seems to be in the driving seat in terms of forcing general elections in the country.
Imran Khan's party currently has government in Khyber Pukkhtunkhwa province, Gilgit Baltistan and Kashmir. And after securing the win in Punjab, Khan will be poised to opt for the option of dissolving all the assemblies and forcing the Shehbaz Sharif government to leave the office, bring in a caretaker setup for 90 days and have general elections in the country.
The ruling government, on the other hand, is working towards backdoor meeting with partners of PTI in Punjab and is working towards ensuring that PTI doesn't succeed in electing its Chief Minister and claim majority.
The government's decision to continue with the ruling is bound to attract more political chaos in the coming days as Imran Khan's popular narrative has made strong impression on the masses at large, who are not ready to accept what he calls, an imported government brought into power through a US-led foreign conspiracy.
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