No possibility of early election: Ishaq Dar

Photo: file

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Thursday that there is no possibility of an early election.

He was speaking to the media after a meeting of the Electoral Reform Committee.

It is the prerogative of the Prime Minister to hold elections early, he remarked, adding there is no possibility that the election would be held before 2018. “We cannot be pressurised into holding elections early.”

General election in Pakistan is expected to be held in 2018.

On Panama case verdict, he remarked that “we will see what happens when the Panama case’s verdict will come out.”

Speaking about the remarks of Justice Ejaz Afzal, who is a part of the bench which heard the Panama case, Dar said that things are remembered for centuries.

On October 20, 2016, the Supreme Court took up petitions by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamhoori Watan Party and others for hearing, in an open court, beginning the long-drawn proceedings of the Panama case in the apex court.

The five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court concluded hearing the case on February 23, and reserved the final judgment.

Headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, the larger bench comprised Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan. It took the SC bench 26 days to reach a verdict in the case.