Senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former Minister of Petroleum Khurram Dastgir said on Tuesday that the \u201ccountdown\u201d for all political parties would begin by October, responding to recent political rhetoric amid growing tensions between coalition partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking on Hum News\u2019 programme Subh Se Agay<\/em>, Dastgir said political parties should avoid inflammatory statements and remain within the bounds of decency during election campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe should exercise restraint in our public statements and refrain from making baseless allegations,\u201d he said, referring to the heated exchanges witnessed during recent elections in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Addressing the PML-N\u2019s alliance with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Dastgir said the coalition would remain intact as long as President Asif Ali Zardari was part of the equation. He added that it was up to the PPP to decide whether it wanted to join the government or sit in the opposition in AJK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe would welcome the PPP if it chooses to become part of the government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Responding to the PPP\u2019s allegations of election rigging in the AJK polls, Dastgir defended the independence of the AJK Election Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe PPP has every right to level allegations, but evidence is essential,\u201d he said, adding that the Election Commission would investigate any complaints on the basis of proof. He noted that the third and final phase of the AJK elections would conclude on August 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the security situation, Dastgir said the government remained committed to tackling militancy: \u201cThere will be decisive action against terrorism, and eliminating terrorism is our priority this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Commenting on\u00a0Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi\u2019s recent political remarks, Dastgir said Naqvi had merely expressed his opinion: \u201cIf the interior minister has an agenda in mind, he should bring it forward for discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n His remarks came a day after PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari announced a nationwide political movement against the federal government and declared that the \u201ccountdown\u201d for the PML-N government had already begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bilawal announces countrywide movement against federal government<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Bilawal had announced a nationwide political movement on Monday night against the federal government, declaring that the \u201ccountdown\u201d for the PML-N has begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Addressing a rally in Azad Kashmir, Bilawal said PML-N should take note, as the PPP was entering the field. He announced he would travel to Poonch and asked party workers to prepare, also announcing an upcoming rally in Bagh district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He voiced reservations over the AJK elections, alleging they were not free and fair but marred by rigging. Despite this, he said, the people had still elected PPP candidates on nine seats. He claimed the party would reclaim seats \u201csnatched\u201d from it in Mirpur and Muzaffarabad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bilawal appealed to workers to ensure the victory of Bazil Naqvi and Javed Ayub from Muzaffarabad on August 4, calling it a way to foil what he described as a PML-N conspiracy. He said August 10 would be Poonch\u2019s turn, where he would address a rally in Bagh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said the PPP never loses courage, never retreats and never leaves the field, urging workers to stay ready for upcoming political activity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former Minister of Petroleum Khurram Dastgir said on Tuesday that the \u201ccountdown\u201d for all political parties would begin by October, responding to recent political rhetoric amid growing tensions between coalition partners. Speaking on Hum News\u2019 programme Subh Se Agay, Dastgir said political parties should avoid inflammatory statements and remain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","inline_featured_image":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"no","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_3859443944190656_798604363342440":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[{"account":"facebook_3859443944190656_798604363342440","service":"facebook","timestamp":1785843802,"status":"success"}],"rop_publish_now_status":"done","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26162,"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26160\/revisions\/26162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}