Pakistan

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), stated on Tuesday that he will not run for prime minister, acknowledging that his party lacks the authority to form the government at the federal level. These remarks come as discussions over the future prime minister of Pakistan are still ongoing. He declared at a news conference in Islamabad. "I will not be putting myself forward for the candidacy of prime minister of Pakistan due to this."

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Rather than joining the federal government, the PPP has chosen to support the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) nominee for prime minister. "The PPP has determined that neither taking on ministries in such a system nor being able to join the federal government ourselves are our goals. We also hope to avoid political anarchy inside the nation. We want to avoid having a national crisis that never ends," he declared.

Also read: Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari announces his candidacy for prime ministership, releases poll manifesto

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In order to establish political stability in Pakistan and help build the federal government, the PPP has now chosen to join forces with other political parties to form a committee. As the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by former prime minister Imran Khan, announced their intention to work together to form the government in both Punjab and the Central region.

According to PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan, the former prime minister has instructed the party to establish a coalition with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) over reserved seats, while dismissing the possibility of any discussions with the PML-N, PPP, and MQM-P. This information was reported by a news agency.

Watch: Pakistan: Bilawal Bhutto reacts to rising terror threat from Afghanistan

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On Tuesday, a Pakistani court denied over thirty petitions submitted by imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan's party-backed independent candidates contesting the "fake win" of prominent PML-N figures.

"The Supreme Court in another case categorically ruled that the extraordinary jurisdiction of the high court cannot be reduced to an ordinary jurisdiction of the high court as there will be disputed questions of facts which cannot be resolved," Lahore High Court Justice Ali Baqar Najafi stated during his hearing on the maintainability of the petitions.

(With inputs from agencies)