While the Supreme Court once again indicated that it would be willing to accept a solution that came through negotiations between political parties, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that negotiations cannot happen with a gun pointed at the government’s head.

“The gun is the court’s minority decision that is being imposed on us,” Bilawal said in a press conference in Islamabad on Thursday afternoon.

He once again said that the 4-3 decision in the election delay case had been turned into a 3-2 decision and was now at loggerheads with the parliament.

Bilawal said that the government and its allies could negotiate to find a solution for the political deadlock over elections but it could not be done while the court’s decision hung over the negotiations. He also said that democracy could be in danger if everyone did not sit at the table.

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Bilawal also said that while he accepted court orders about elections within 90 days, it was clear that more emphasis was being laid on elections in Punjab. He said that elections in KP, as well as by-elections to National Assembly seats and local government elections, had all gone past the 90-day limit.

“We have always opposed a one-unit scheme for Pakistan,” Bilawal said. He said that the plan to have elections earlier in Punjab compared to the rest of the country was part of a ‘conspiracy’ to influence elections in the rest of the country.