Parties that are part of Pakistan's ruling coalition have dismissed their Supreme Court's order that called on all political outfits to hold discussions on Punjab election dates following its directive to the country's poll body to conduct them on 14 May, local media reported on Friday.
The order asking political parties to reach a consensus on a date for Punjab provincial polls came on Thursday after the federal government filed a petition in the apex court to conduct both national and provincial elections in the country at the same time in October this year.
Additionally, Pakistan's Defense Ministry cited security threats, including what he termed as a "full-blown war" with India, as the reason behind its inability to allocate Army troops for elections in Punjab in a report submitted to the top court.
PDM Chief Terms Imran Khan 'Incompetent'
Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the president of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the alliance that presently governs Pakistan, however, rejected the proposed talks with arch-rival and former Prime Minister Imran Khan, as he views him "incompetent".
"We do not consider him (Imran Khan) eligible for talks. We want to kick him out of the political arena. But the Supreme Court seems desirous of keeping him as the centre stage of politics," he told reporters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
"Why did Imran Khan dissolve the assemblies? If they are disbanded deliberately, it is stupid and he should be kept out of politics. He is incompetent and we consider him incompetent," Rahman questioned.
On the other hand, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who is also the country's Foreign Minister, labeled the court-mandated discussions between political parties as "talks at gunpoint".
"The heads of all coalition parties, including myself, disagree with the Supreme Court's order regarding talks under the court’s supervision and consider the order as conducting of talks with a gun to [our] heads," Bhutto-Zardari said in a press conference.
Supreme Court's Verdict on Punjab Polls
The elections to Punjab's provincial assembly were originally scheduled to be held this month. But the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) delayed them to October 2023, forcing the Supreme Court to begin suo motu proceedings in the matter.
Subsequently, the Islamic nation's top judicial body declared the ECP's decision to postpone the polls null and void before announcing that the elections would be held next month.
An ongoing tussle between the government and the judiciary suggests there's no certainty if the Punjab polls would be held on the court-mandated date.