With the voting on no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan still hanging in the air, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has said "those who have bought lawmakers will be responsible if martial law is imposed [in the country]."
In an informal conversation with journalists in the Parliament House on Saturday, the federal minister expressed these views in response to journalist Matiullah Jan's question.
When asked about the Supreme Court's short order in which the five-member larger bench issued a unanimous verdict that the National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri had violated the Constitution, Fawad said the top court was "not above" the Parliament.
However, he said the government respected the apex court's order and it will "let the opposition fulfill its wish to vote on the no-confidence motion".
In response to the time of voting on no-trust move, Fawad mentioned that a number of speeches were remaining to be delivered in the House, including the federal ministers.
Expressing government's intent to hold early elections, the federal minister said he had spoken to opposition lawmakers on the issue and suggested all political parties should "unitedly" move towards the decision.
He said: "Leaders of all political parties are mentally prepared for the elections."
The federal minister proposed that the opposition parties sit together for a joint solution of the issue as resolving issues between politicians is not the responsibility of the army and Supreme Court.
In response to another question related to the Election Commission of Pakistan's capacity to hold the general elections, the federal minister said the ECP's sole responsibility was to hold the elections and if they were not ready to do so they should resign.
“If the ECP cannot hold elections then the reason is sufficient enough for the election commissioner to tender his resignation,” he said, adding that the National Database and Registration Authority is not yet ready to allow overseas Pakistanis to cast their votes.
