The PML-N has directed all its members of the Punjab Assembly to reach Lahore in connection with the chief minister’s vote of confidence and no-trust motions against the speaker and his deputy. Party sources said the PML-N Punjab parliamentary party’s meeting would be held in the first week of January, chaired by its chief, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. In the meeting, the issues of Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi’s vote of confidence as well as the no-trust motions against the speaker and his deputy would be discussed.

The sources said PM Shehbaz would inform the party’s lawmakers about the plan of action in the provincial assembly. They added that suggestions on the political situation would also be sought from the party’s members of the provincial assembly. Though the Lahore High Court’s recent order has provided an opportunity to all sides to review their political agendas, the ongoing political turmoil seems to be far from over. Punjab’s ruling parties, the PTI and PML-Q, wish to dissolve the assembly to force snap polls in the country.

In response, the ruling alliance at the Centre is simultaneously throwing a gauntlet to the rulers in Punjab to go ahead with its plan while carrying out all efforts to stop the assembly from being dissolved. The country, especially Punjab, has been embroiled in a political and constitutional crisis since November 26 when PTI chief Imran Khan announced at a public gathering that the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies would be dissolved in the coming days. Initially, the government side said that it would go to any limit to stop the dissolution from happening but then shifted gears and started challenging the PTI to go ahead with the plan, announcing that elections would be held in two provinces in case the party really went for it.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP