‘PTI open to negotiations on electoral reforms’

PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi says will only hold talks if govt announces date for elections

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf may consider holding negotiations with the current government on electoral reforms, to make sure that free and fair elections were held, if the government publicizes a date for the polls, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Thursday.

He said this talking to media outside the Election Commission of Pakistan after he met with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.

Qureshi said that his party demanded immediate polls in order to steer the country out of unrest and economic crisis.

He said that the incumbent government would only remain in power for a month and that its future was uncertain, while the rupee falls by another Rs7 against the dollar and the burden of loans increases by Rs1,000 billion.

He said that the decline in the rupee’s value would further increase the level of inflation in the country.

He said that subsidy granted by the previous government on electricity and oil would have to be taken back according to the deal with the IMF, adding that this would further aggravate the economic woes.

Qureshi said that the country was in a tumultuous state and politically unstable as hundreds of thousands of people have expressed solidarity with Imran Khan. He claimed that this was an indication that people did not accept the current government. He stressed once again that holding fresh polls in the given situation was the only solution.