Govt decides to complete tenure: sources

• PM Shehbaz Sharif chairs a meeting of coalition partners.
• Participants of meeting decide to stay in power till August 2023.
• Coalition partners assure PM of standing by him.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government has decided to complete its constitutional tenure till August 2023, sources told Geo News Tuesday.

The development came during a meeting of the coalition partners, where the country's overall political situation was discussed, with the prime minister in the chair.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, MQM-P's Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, and federal ministers Azam Nazeer Tarar, Khawaja Asif, and Marriyum Aurangzeb were part of the meeting.

The participants of the meeting decided that the government would complete its constitutional tenure in a bid to take the country out of the economic turmoil.

Apart from this, the meeting also discussed the Supreme Court of Pakistan's verdict on Article 63 (A) and the situation arising in Punjab after the decision.

According to sources, the allies of the PML-N assured PM Shehbaz Sharif that they are with the party and would stand with them on every decision. They also advised the PM to take immediate measures to stabilise the economy.

Officials, who attended the meeting, say that the coalition partners advised the economic team to take immediate measures to stabilise the rupee. They also recommended that finalise the IMF programme.

The newly formed government is under pressure due to the economic situation as the dollar keeps reaching historic highs daily, while PTI Chairman Imran Khan has repeatedly demanded snap elections.

In a major development, the SC today ruled that the votes of dissident members of the Parliament (MPs), cast against their parliamentary party's directives, cannot be counted.

The five-member larger bench announced a split decision. The majority of judges, including Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, refused to allow parliamentarians from voting against the party directives under the four instances mentioned in Article 63(A) of the Constitution.

Although no PTI member voted for Shehbaz during the prime minister's election, several party members had voted for Hamza Shahbaz in the Punjab chief minister election — leaving his fate hanging in the balance.