ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan, while dealing with the fears of the opposition’s tampering in the upcoming Senate elections, is now being faced with another new challenge in the shape of former president Asif Ali Zardari extending a welcome to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) coalition partners.
As part of the emerging strategy of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Pakistan People’s Party Co-chairman Asif Zardari is leading the charge and has, according to sources, contacted two coalition partners of the PTI – Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) and the Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) – and sought their cooperation in lieu of PPP’s accommodation to their candidates in Senate elections.
Sources in the ruling party have informed Pakistan Today that new political manoeuvres by bureaucratic savant Zardari have disturbed the premier, who is already losing coalition partners one by one.
The source said that Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) had already parted ways with the ruling PTI, and now other partners like PML-Q and MQM are also being lured in by Zardari.
“Though the prime minister knows that neither the PML-Q nor the MQM would vote for PPP’s nominee for Senate from federal capital – Yousaf Raza Gilani – but this manoeuvring may encourage PTI dissidents to make waves,” the source said.
The source said that smaller groups of lawmakers in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assemblies are unhappy with the party decisions and they are being lured by the opposition through lucrative offers. In this regard, it has emerged that Prime Minister Imran Khan has activated intelligence to monitor them closely.
PPP APPROACHES MQM WITH ROSY PROMISES:
Federal Minister for Information Technology Aminul Haq has said that the MQM, PTI and the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) have agreed on five seats from Sindh province. He maintained that it is not a difficult task for the ruling alliance to win five out of 11 seats in Sindh in the Senate elections.
Talking to media persons in Hyderabad, he said that the ruling coalition has held 10 different meetings regarding the Senate elections, and three out of five seats went to the MQM, while PTI and GDA would have one seat each. The MQM-P would be given the women’s seat, and in return, the MQM-P will support PTI in the technocrat seat.
In a new development, a PPP delegation reached the office of MQM-Pakistan and offered its cooperation to the MQM in the Senate elections.
This offer was made despite the fact that the PTI, MQM and GDA have agreed on five seats from Sindh province for the Senate elections. The PPP has offered to accommodate the MQM on two seats in Sindh Assembly.
PPP leaders including, Nasir Hussain Shah, Sharjeel Memon, Murtaza Wahab, and Waqar Mehdi, in a joint press conference on Saturday, had announced that the party will withdraw two of its candidates in the upcoming Senate election in favour of MQM-P.
PPP leader Nasir Hussain Shah said that PTI was scared of PPP in Punjab. He stressed PTI was afraid of not getting the votes of its members in the province. The PPP leader maintained that its candidates from Sindh are ready to withdraw their seats for general and women’s seats.
If the offer is accepted, he said, the MQM will have to vote for Yousaf Raza Gilani in the National Assembly (NA). The PPP also suggested a broader coalition at the behest of the top leadership.
In a meeting held in Karachi, MQM leader Faisal Sabzwari has said that there is unity on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the PTI and the MQM wants the federal government to abide by the agreement.
He told the media that cooperation has been sought by PPP for former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani, and the MQM coordination committee will decide. He added that the MQM supports legislation in the public interest.
The vote of the people should be respected, he said, adding that the MQM has been forwarding its complaints to the government.
The PTI, in response to these rumours, invited the MQM o a luncheon on Sunday in honour of PTI chief organizer Saifullah Niazi.
The luncheon was attended by GDA President Sadruddin Shah Rashdi, Hasnain Mirza, Shehryar Mehr, and others from the alliance. However, no member from MQM showed up, reported a local news outlet.
MQM has convened an important meeting of its Coordination Committee on Sunday evening to consider PPP’s proposal for the Senate polls.
MQM leaders, in this regard, have expressed the view that a vote for Yousuf Raza Gilani would be tantamount to a vote of no confidence against PM Imran Khan and so they are of the opinion that “unity cannot be sacrificed for two Senate seats”.
PPP SEEKS SUPPORT FROM PML-Q IN PUNJAB:
Sources in the PPP have claimed that the party leadership has reached out to the PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and asked for their support in getting votes for Yousaf Raza Gilani in Senate elections. The sources said that the PPP has sought support in lieu of the PPP’s accommodation of Elahi’s request for getting PML-Q leader Kamil Ali Agha elected unopposed.
The sources said that the party leadership meeting also held an important meeting to review the party’s strategy. According to details, senior party leaders called on party chief Chaudhry Shujaat and discussed Senate elections and political situation.
The meeting was attended by Chaudhry Salik Hussain, Saleem Baryar, Shafi Hussain, Muhammad Khan Bhatti and other leaders.
The source added that Parvez Elahi had contacted Asif Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders, and asked them to accommodate the PML-Q nominee.
Due to Pervez Elahi’s contacts, all the candidates in Punjab were elected unopposed as senators. It should be noted that all 11 candidates have been elected unopposed in the Senate elections in Punjab so far. The successful candidates include five PTI, five PML-N and one PML-Q candidate.
IN KP, DIALOGUE FAILS AS OPPOSITION WANTS BIGGER PIE:
Talks between the ruling PTI and opposition have failed to get Senators elected unopposed per the strength of political parties in the KP Assembly. Sources told Pakistan Today that the opposition parties were offered two general seats in the by-elections, but the opposition rejected the government’s offer, thwarting efforts to hold unopposed Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In a new development, Jamaat-e-Islami (JUI), once an ally of the ruling PTI, has decided to vote for Yousaf Raza Gilani, the joint PDM candidate from Islamabad in the Senate elections.
According to sources, Jamaat-e-Islami has announced its support for the joint candidate of the anti-government alliance in the Senate elections. In this regard, JUI leader Abdul Akbar Chitrali says that his party has fielded a joint PDM candidate from Islamabad, and JI would vote for Yousaf Raza Gilani.
The PDM has devised a strategy under which the PDM is hoping to win at least five seats in KP Assembly. The sources said that the PDM has decided that PML-N, JUI, Awami National Party (ANP) candidates will contest on general seats while the PPP nominee would contest the election on technocrat seats and Jamaat-e-Islami would get women’s seat.
TROUBLES PILING UP:
A day earlier, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had claimed PTI’s members of parliament (MPs) were in contact with his party.
Addressing a public meeting in Kohat, Bilawal had said it was “too late for the PTI to hold a dialogue with its aides (for the Senate elections) as they are already in contact with PPP (to form an alliance).”
“It is an opportunity for them (coalition parties) to prove if they are with the public or with the puppet government,” he had added.
He had said the government was upset about the nomination of the former prime minister and PPP leader Yousaf Raza Gillani as a joint candidate of PDM parties from Islamabad.
The PPP has been echoing these sentiments increasingly over the past week.
