LAHORE - In what appears to be the efforts for making a grand opposition alliance, the PTI top leadership has made contacts with mainstream political parties in the first phase, while others including the religious forces will also be contacted soon.
The PTI has launched various practical steps to form a greater opposition alliance and gave given main focus to the election rigging issue in a bid to reform the electoral process.
In realisation of the PTI high command efforts, a joint session of the PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami and PPP has been called for Wednesday. The opposition parties will work together on proposals for electoral reforms and forward the same to the government. Besides reforms in the electoral process, the PTI top leadership also decided to take up the issues including energy crisis and terrorism from a possible grand opposition platform.
Political circles are analysing this development on part of the PTI as a bid to form a Pakistan National Alliance (PNA)-like opposition coalition if the joint effort of the possible amalgam is restricted to the rigging issue.
As, the nine-party electoral alliance comprising opposition parties or anti-Bhutto forces had launched a movement alleging the 1977 general elections were massively rigged by the Bhutto government.
A senior PTI leader and member of the party’s core committee on Tuesday confirmed The Nation that their efforts for the formation of a greater opposition coalition would first pursue the issue of reformation of electoral process. However the drive would continue and later take up energy crisis, terrorism and other major issues.
When asked that the PPP had only extended its support for electoral reforms, he said the PTI was thankful for whatever the support the PPP extended to them; however the PTI would continue its drive for other issues without the PPP backing.
PTI vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi told this correspondent that the priority of the possible opposition alliance was to reform the electoral process and there was no harm if the same launches another effort to press the government for the earliest resolution of other issues confronting the masses.
He said, “We’ll not make any bid to dislodge the incumbent government but the rulers should act with responsibility and sincerity to address the poll rigging and other major issues.”
Second-in-command to the PTI chief said that he had contacted the PPP, MQM and other political parties to gather them at a single platform against the rigging on priority and later on to launch a joint struggle for other major issues. He added that as a result of his contacts, a joint session of the opposition parties including the PPP, PTI and JI would be held today (Wednesday) in Islamabad to review various proposals for reforming the electoral process.
When contacted, PML-Q Punjab president Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said, “The movement started on May 11 has laid the foundation of formation of a grand opposition alliance.” He said that the PML-Q has taken first step to back the efforts of greater opposition alliance by taking part in the PTI and PAT protest and rally, while it would play its role in the formation of the alliance as soon as the PTI leadership meets them. He insisted, “The ongoing political developments in the country will lead to midterm elections, as we don’t see resolution of the rigging issue under the incumbent set up.”
PTI Punjab president, Ijaz Chaudhry, who is also the party’s core committee member, when contacted said, besides the PPP and MQM, they would contact with other political parties including the religious parties to achieve the goal of transparent elections.
Ijaz said that the PTI along with other opposition parties would first deal with the rigging issue, while it would consult the same for staging another struggle for resolving other major issues once the target of reforming the electoral process was achieved.