Election schedule to be issued before April 5, claims Sheikh Rashid

• “Internal threats have arisen from statements of interior and foreign ministers,” claims AML chief.
  
• Says COAS General Asim Munir has also said "country is going through a critical period".
• Rashid hints at snap polls in country. 
  

Awami Muslim League (AML) Chief Sheikh Rashid on Friday claimed that schedule for the upcoming general elections would be issued before April 5 — the only demand Imran Khan-led Pakistan Teheek-e-Insaf (PTI) has since its government was overturned through a vote of no-confidence in April last year.

Earlier, the former interior minister predicted that the polls schedule would be rolled out in March and April.

Talking to journalists in Rawalpindi, Rashid warned that provocative statements by the interior and foreign ministers aimed at economic crisis would worsen the internal situation. “Internal threats have arisen from the statements of the interior and foreign ministers.”

Earlier, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, in an interview with a Pakistani news channel, had said: "Islamabad may target the TTP [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan] in Afghanistan if Kabul does not take action to dismantle them."

Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in terror incidents, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, during the past couple of months after the proscribed TTP declared to end the ceasefire with Islamabad.

Rashid said that Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir had also said that the country is going through a critical period.

“I think, we are heading towards elections,” he added.

‘Establishment is neutral’

Speaking on the Geo News programme 'Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath' on Wednesday, Sheikh Rashid said that the establishment is neutral after the newly-appointed military leadership has taken over as no one is receiving phone calls. "Now, no one says that they are receiving [mysterious and threatening] phone calls."

Commenting on Imran Khan, the former federal minister said that he can't inveigh against the PTI chief, emphasising that even a pylon will win elections if it has got a ticket from Imran Khan.

Famous for his crisp remarks, Sheikh Rashid said that these 13 parties — a reference to the political parties under the yoke of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — will bag something other than votes in the elections. Imran Khan has buried the politics of these 13 political parties, he added.

Sheikh Rashid said that these people made an attempt at Imran Khan's life.