If supreme court's orders are not respected, I will lead Pakistan's biggest movement: Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD, May 3: Pakistan's former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan warned that if the central government doesn't respect the orders of the Supreme Court over the election then he will call for a movement.

In an interview with a Pakistani news channel, Khan said, "This Supreme Court should not think whether its orders will be implemented or not. This is not the work of the Supreme Court. The main function of the Supreme Court is to see what the Constitution says. The Constitution stated that within 90 days of dissolving the assemblies, the election should take place. The Supreme Court needs to take the decision accordingly. After this, the government will decide whether to accept the order or not," according to the video shared by PTI's official Twitter handle.

He further stated that if the central government doesn't accept the order then people have to take charge and ask the question from the government. "If the supreme court's orders are not respected, I will lead Pakistan's biggest movement," Khan said.

Earlier, Khan expressed his party's readiness for elections if the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) dissolves all assemblies before May 14, reported Geo News.

Addressing a rally in Lahore, Khan came down hard on the government ahead of "final" poll talks. "They (the government) want to hold elections when they believe I will be out of their way. Their only aim is to take me out of the way," said Khan -- who was ousted as the prime minister in April last year.

Khan added that if the government thinks it can stall and the PTI will wait, they are wrong. "We will move the court and demand elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP)," reported Geo News.

Khan has been mounting pressure on the government to announce general elections since his ouster from office in April, he announced last month that the PTI would dissolve the provincial assemblies in the two provinces where it is in power, KP and Punjab.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Democratic Movement and the opposition PTI have agreed on holding general elections across the country on the same date, reported Geo News.

The development came late Tuesday after the negotiating teams of both sides held the third round of talks aimed at ending a deadlock over general elections timing at the Parliament House in Islamabad.

The head of the government negotiating team, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, told the media that consensus could not be evolved on the date of the general elections. However, he confirmed that both sides had agreed that the polls should be held simultaneously across the country. He also said both sides had shown flexibility in their positions, according to Geo News. "Hopefully, if they proceed with sincerity, the next phase will be passed successfully," Dar added.

(RSS/ANI)