The decision was taken at a meeting of the political strategy committee of the party on Wednesday. Imran Khan was in the chair.The committee discussed Allama Tahirul Qadri’s offer to the PTI for joining the sit-in, but decided to reject it with thanks, reiterating the party’s stance that a “sustainable change could come only through a government elected in a free and fair election with the support of the people behind it”.

It said while many of the issues that Dr Qadri was raising were those that the PTI had been emphasising, had the PTI been consulted by Qadri it would have suggested to him to wait till a caretaker government was formed because at that time the bona fides of the government and the ‘nominal’ opposition would be proved or disproved.It said immediate fair and free elections under a neutral caretaker government were the only way out of the crisis.

A press release quoted Imran Khan as saying that early elections had become even more imperative because of the constitutional crisis in Balochistan, deteriorating law and order situation, Indian aggression on the Line of Control and a deep sense of anger pervading the nation because of inflation, unemployment, loadshedding of electricity and gas as well as closure of CNG stations.It said the seven-point agenda given by the party the other day was a roadmap to free and fair polls.