Incumbent govt’s tenure to end on Aug 14: Prime Minister Shehbaz

ISLAMABAD, July 12 (SABAH): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Wednesday that the tenure of government would end on Aug 14 and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would give the election date accordingly.

The remarks of prime minister came after his meeting with the chief of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Maulana Fazlur Rehman here on the other day, who favours dissolution of assemblies and general elections on time.

“I assure you that our government’s tenure will end on Aug 14 and elections will be announced by the ECP,” the PM said. He hoped that whichever government comes, it will prioritise the education.

Earlier, there were reports that the PML-N was reluctant to go into the polls on time but other allies including PPP and JUI-F were pressing to hold elections as per the schedule after dissolution of the assembly.

A meeting was also held between the bigwigs and decision makers of both the PML-N and PPP last week in Dubai where the issue was discussed in detail.

It was reported that meetings between PML-N and PPP leadership in the United Arab Emirates resulted in a consensus on a number of issues, including names for the caretaker set-up and a power-sharing formula if the two parties win the next election.