Pakistan’s Army chief Gen. Asim Munir on Saturday urged the country’s polarised political leadership to form a “unified government of all democratic forces”, as he backed former PM Nawaz Sharif’s plea to his rivals to help form a coalition government after the general elections appear to have produced a hung Parliament.
Springing a surprise, Independents backed by jailed former PM Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won the lion’s share of 102 seats in the National Assembly in Thursday’s election, as the result of 257 seats out of 265 was announced. The PTI has already claimed victory in the elections. The group was followed by Mr. Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with 73 seats, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 54, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) with 17 and smaller parties taking 11. To form a government, a party must win 133 seats out of 265 in the National Assembly. On Saturday, a statement attributed to Gen. Munir noted that the people of Pakistan reposed their combined trust in the Constitution of Pakistan and it was now “incumbent upon all political parties to reciprocate the same with political maturity and unity”. Check out the latest episode of Worldview where The Hindu’s Suhasini Haider decodes Pakistan election and what it means for India and the region.
Meanwhile, Mr. Khan, in an AI-generated audio-video message, claimed victory in the elections as he thanked the people for voting for the PTI and asked them to ensure the sanctity of their votes was not hijacked by the establishment. PTI Central Information Secretary Raoof Hasan said any attempt to derail the people’s decision would have “deadly consequences”.
Mr. Khan was on Saturday granted bail by an anti-terrorism court in 12 cases linked to the May 9 attacks on military installations by his supporters following his arrest in an alleged corruption case.
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