Pak Foreign Minister rejects demand for early polls, calls for preparing code of conduct for political parties

Islamabad [Pakistan], January 6 (ANI): Pakistan Foreign Minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday said that his party is against early as well as a delay in general elections, Geo News reported.

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari rejected the demand for snap polls and reports of a long-term caretaker government's imposition, according to Geo News. Notably, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan has been calling for early elections since his ouster from power in April.

After attending the meeting of the PPP's Central Executive Committee (CEC) in Lahore, Bilawal said PPP will prepare a code of conduct for all political parties. Bilawal said his party will consult all the ruling and opposition parties regarding the matter.

Responding to Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi's statement where he refused to take a vote of confidence following Governor Baligh-ur-Rehman's orders to take a vote of confidence, Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that Elahi has to take the confidence vote if he wished to continue holding the top provincial office, as per the Geo News report.

Criticising the Punjab government, he said that the real estate mafia has been given a "free hand" in the province, Geo News reported. Chaudhry Parvez Elahi said that taking a vote of confidence means that he is accepting Punjab Governor's order and called Baligh-ur-Rehman's orders "illegal," The News International reported.

"In the past, Usman Buzdar was doing corruption for Gogi and now Parvez Elahi is playing the same role," Geo News quoted Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as saying.

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is aware that his party could not form its government without the establishment's support. He also slammed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf for online criticism of his recent visit to flood-affected families in Sindh.

"Imran Khan knows that he cannot come into power without the help of the establishment. In this stage of life, he should become a democratic man," Geo News quoted Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as saying. (ANI)