Pervez Elahi Warns Imran Khan, Says General (retired) Bajwa Is "PML-Q's Red Line"

Chief minister Punjab Chaudhry Pervez Elahi said that he had no qualms about dissolving the Punjab assembly, and it was PTI's 'trust' that they had vested in his PML-Q which he was returning to the 'rightful owners'. In his belief, the dissolution of assemblies would be a shock to the entire system, and to the economy as well. "Neither was I in doubt, nor was Khan sahib in any doubt, not even for a day", Elahi confidently said. "The mandate belongs to Imran Khan, not to us", Pervez Elahi said, "we are just his coalition partners".

However, Elahi said he was hurt and offended when Imran Khan took jabs at former army chief General (retired) Qamar Javed Bajwa while he (Elahi) was sitting next to Khan in his video address.

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Pervez Elahi squarely blamed Khan for poor etiquette when the latter spoke against the former army chief. Elahi said Imran Khan told him that he [Khan] was getting recommended from multiple people that he should not speak openly against former chief General Bajwa, "so I tried to convince him to agree with those recommendations". He listed all of the former army chief's apparent favors that he had done from Imran Khan and PTI, and other services he had rendered in aiding Imran Khan's government.

Elahi seemed somewhat reluctant to propagate the idea that dissolving the Punjab assembly, at this point in time, would be wise for the PTI. "Feedback from the common man was positive, there are many PTI supporters, people wanted us to continue [in government]", the Punjab CM told journalists on Sunday, adding "jobs were being created, people had started getting work again, a comeback has been achieved".

Elahi made these claims of turning Punjab's fortunes around after his predecessor Usman Buzdar "ruined" the province. Usman Buzdar was handpicked from obscurity by Imran Khan to lead Pakistan's most populous and most consequential province.

In addition to Buzdar, the incumbent chief minister also took aim at former interior minister Sheikh Rasheed, former information minister Fawad Chaudhry, recently resigned provincial minister Hasnain Dreshak, local PTI politicians Jamshed Iqbal Cheema and his legislator wife Musarrat Jamshed Cheema, and other PTI hawks.

Pervez Elahi also blamed Imran Khan for allegedly masterminding attempts by former ISI chief Lt Gen (retired) Faiz Hameed to "get Moonis [Elahi] arrested" through NAB.

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Pervez Elahi unraveled the entire macrocosm of the hybrid regime experiment, and the benefits PTI accrued from all of it, lamenting how the PML-Q itself was deprived of "electables" to bolster the PTI in Punjab.

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"I had urged Khan sahib to forget about it and move on", Elahi said. "Now if they say anything against General Bajwa, I will speak against them first of all, and then my entire party will speak out against them", an exasperated Pervez Elahi told journalists, asking why the PTI had made a joke of everything. The Punjab chief minister added that the former army chief, who since retirement is under constant verbal attacks from former prime minister Imran Khan, is "PML-Q's red line".

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This comes a day after Imran Khan announced in a live video address, next to the Punjab and KP chief ministers, that both those provincial assemblies will be dissolved on 23 December. Sources report that the opposition in Punjab assembly, the PML-N and PPP led PDM, is expected to table a no-confidence motion to stall the legislature's dissolution.