Conspiracy being hatched to impose a “one unit policy”: Bilawal Zardari

Islamabad: On Thursday, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari backed Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) President Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s stance on talks with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan over the election date, saying that dialogues cannot be held with the opposition by holding a gun to their heads.

The foreign minister claimed during a press conference that a plot was afoot to impose a “one unit policy” on the nation. The Supreme Court ordered the contested ruling and the opposition political parties to immediately reach an agreement on the election date and update the bench hearing by 4pm earlier in the day.

The directives came after the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) assured the top court that they would sit with the PTI and try to find a solution on the election date.

PPP’s Farooq H Naek and PML-N’s Khawaja Saad Rafique assured the three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial of holding talks with the opposition party.

The same assurance was made by PTI’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Contrary to the PPP chairman’s stance over the issue, the party’s lawyer and senior leader Farooq H Naek told journalists outside the Supreme Court that he has apprised the chief justice that his party had contacted the PTI over the matter.

“More contacts will be made after Eid ul Fitr,” he added

He also said that all the political parties wanted that elections should be held on the same date across the country.

“In its order, the Supreme Court has set May 14 as the date for the general elections in Punjab,” Naek said, adding that the top court was of the view that the new date can’t be given until consensus is reached by all the political parties. “We want to resolve all the matters through talks.”