November 07, 2017
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party leader Qamar Zaman Kaira on Tuesday claimed that the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) does not want the democratic process to operate smoothly.
"Democracy doesn't suit the ruling party right now," Kaira claimed, "so the PML-N has been trying to push the institutions to their limits".
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Kaira said the PML-N has tried its level best to destablise the democratic process, though the institutions have exhibited patience in the face of PML-N's political tactics.
"Nawaz Sharif’s interests are not aligned with democracy."
He further claimed that the PML-N president would be unable to contest elections even if he manages to emerge safely from the ongoing corruption references against him.
Discussing the possibility of early elections in Pakistan, Kaira remarked that his party believes in democracy and doesn't support the notion of early elections.
"Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s demands for early elections are not unconstitutional, but they are not the need of time and neither do other political parties support this demand," the PPP leader said.
PTI leaders have time and again reiterated their demand for early elections.
Earlier on Sunday, the PTI's spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry said that the party does not want a delay in elections but instead demands early elections in the country.
In a video message, he suggested that all the assemblies, provincial and national, should be dissolved after consultation with the stakeholders.
Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, however, has rejected calls for early elections on Monday and said the assemblies will be dissolved on June 5, 2018, after completing their constitutional tenure.
Iqbal, accompanied by other PML-N leaders, had said that Pakistan is a democracy and the only National Reconciliation Order (NRO) in the existing in the country is the one in the hands of the people.