As Pakistan hurtles from crisis to crisis, military intervention rears its ugly head
- A stand-off between Pakistan’s ruling coalition and its judiciary over the date of provincial polls is threatening to become a constitutional crisis
- Officials warn the impasse could prompt the military to intervene, as instability undermines efforts to persuade the IMF to resume financial aid
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration has until Thursday to reach a deal with former leader Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on provincial elections in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, under a seven-day deadline Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial issued on April 20.
But Sharif is resisting the order of Bandial’s three-judge court to release 21 billion rupees (US$75 million) to the election commission to conduct the provincial polls, which the court said should take place on May 14. His coalition – which comprises all political parties in the 342-seat National Assembly except Khan’s PTI – has also refused to resign until the completion of the National Assembly’s five-year tenure in August, or hold a general election before October.
Pakistan’s constitution calls for elections to be held within 90 days of a legislature’s dissolution, with general and provincial elections typically held on the same day under a decades-old custom.
