'Intervene, hold new elections,' Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed urges establishment

• Rasheed suggests tactic to destabilise next government.
• Parties who took money should be banned, interior minister says.
• He suggests holding elections after holy month of Ramadan.

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad Saturday urged the establishment to "intervene and hold new general elections" in the country as he expressed concerns over the rising political tensions in the country in the backdrop of a no-trust motion and allegations of a “foreign plot”.

Rasheed, talking to journalists in Islamabad, said that the defiant lawmakers cannot represent the nation. He maintained that no solution left other than new general elections to take the country forward.

Referring to the no-confidence motion, the interior minister said that the Opposition gave a new life to PM Imran Khan, adding that his popularity has increased after the no-trust motion. He, however, admitted that they had made mistakes during their regime.

Speaking on the occasion the interior minister presented three solutions to the ongoing political crisis in the country:

• The establishment should intervene and hold immediate elections in the country;
• Those Opposition parties who submitted the no-trust motion after allegedly receiving money from foreign forces should be banned; and
• All the PTI lawmakers resign from the assemblies to destabilise the next government.

He requested the institutions to take notice of the political situation in the country as the political fight has spread further. 

“Do the institutions not know who is sending extortion money to PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari?” he asked.

Under Article 94 of the constitution, PM Imran Khan will remain caretaker prime minister even if the no-trust motion against him succeeds, he claimed.

He maintained that he has been asking the prime minister to hold new elections in the county for the past year. The interior minister suggested the government hold new elections in the country soon after the holy month of Ramadan. 

The voting on the no-confidence motion against the prime minister will take place Sunday and the government does not seem in a strong position.

The PTI effectively lost its majority in the 342-member National Assembly Wednesday when a coalition partner — MQM-P — said its seven lawmakers would vote with the opposition on the no-confidence motion. Before them, several other allies had switched sides.