Into the unknown.

IT seems we are heading further into uncharted territory. Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi has signed the summary dissolving the provincial assembly as directed by Imran Khan, only hours after it had reposed confidence in him.

By sending the advice to the governor for the assembly's dissolution, he has also dashed the PML-N's hopes that he would not want to lose his government or the chance to position his party for a bigger role in provincial politics in the next general elections.

How will the central government and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's party, the PML-N, react to this latest development? It was unclear at the time these lines were being written. Considering the intra-party rifts and its pathetic inability to prevent the dissolution, it seems the PML-N has run out of useful ideas.

Whether or not the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly along with that of KP gives Imran Khan what he is aiming for - early general elections - the polls, whenever they are held, are not going to be easy sailing for the PML-N in its fortress of Punjab.

There is another issue to consider. The provincial assemblies' premature dissolution will raise several legal questions that would need to be settled before elections in the two provinces are held. For example, general elections - both for the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies - must be held around the same time.

However, polls in Punjab and KP will have to be held within 90 days of Punjab and KP assemblies' dissolution, which would lead to a situation in which these elections will be completely out of sync with those for the National...