By The South Asia Times 

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani President on Thursday midnight dissolved the National Assembly on the advice of outgoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, said the presidency.

A statement issued from the president's house said that President Dr Arif Alvi has signed the summary for the dissolution of the National Assembly in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister.

However, the President didn't announce the date of the elections which according to the country's constitution shall be held within 90 days. 

With the dissolution of the parliament, the 13 parties coalition government led by Sharif stood dissolved, however, Sharif will continue to work until the caretaker prime minister took the oath.

It's expected the Sharif and the opposition leader of the dissolved parliament will meet today to announce the name of the caretaker prime minister. 

The 13 parties PDM government ruled the country for 16 months after they ousted former prime minister Imran Khan through a vote of no-confidence in April 2022. 

Since then the South Asian country has gone into political and economic crises and the PDM alliance failed to overcome and provide relief to the public.

The alliance now apparently hesitates to go for fresh elections within 90 days as they approved digital census just four days before the dissolution of parliament to pave the way for the election commission to delay the elections for further few months.

The move was widely criticized by the public, journalists, and civil society and on Wednesday the Senate of Pakistan even passed a resolution urging the election commission to hold elections within the term fixed by the constitution [ within 90 days]. 

Analysts believed that if the election was held within 90 days, the former cricket star turned politician, Imran Khan could win it.

Khan is currently in jail as the PDM government registered some 200 cases against him, which observers believed an attempt to keep him out from the next elections.