PESHAWAR        -         Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has been invited to a meeting at the office of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Haji Ghulam Ali to discuss the schedule of the elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This was stated in a letter issued by the KP Governor and addressed to the secretary of the ECP for a meeting at the Governor House in the current month.

The Governor House drafted the letter in response to a letter that the ECP had sent requesting the release of the election date. It said that the Election Commission of Pakistan is welcome to attend the office of the undersigned on March 7 or March 8 at 11am as per convenience so that active and meaningful consultative process might be commenced. The letter also referred to the Supreme Court’s decision in a suo motto case about the election date and stated that the undersigned must uphold it in letter and spirit.

Elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab must be held within 90 days, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had ordered last week. Later, Governor Ghulam Ali raised concerns about the Supreme Court’s decision to order elections in Punjab and KP to be held within 90 days, saying “those who made the decision” would be held accountable if any unfavourable events transpired during that time. In light of a rise in terrorism in the area, the Governor questioned if the Supreme Court took the provincial government’s “security concerns” into consideration. Imran Khan, the PTI chairman, ordered dissolution of the two assemblies where his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, held a majority in order to pressure the federal government into holding early general elections. In both provinces, the provincial assemblies were dissolved in the middle of January, and caretaker governments were installed.