Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s party on Tuesday announced that it will use the platform of two right wing religious parties in its bid to form government in the Centre as well as in the provinces of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
“Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has decided to join Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) to form the government in the Centre and Punjab and Jamaati-e-Islami (JI) in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,” PTI Information Secretary Raouf Hassan said while addressing a press conference.
Hassan said the PTI was redoubling its efforts to make government in the Centre and Punjab.
However, it is believed that by joining the two parties, the PTI will not be able to gather enough strength to form either the federal or provincial government in Punjab.
However, the PTI can form a government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa even without the support of any other party.
Independent candidates, mostly backed by Khan’s PTI, won 101 seats in the 266-member National Assembly in the February 8 general elections. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N has won 75 seats and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto’s PPP has won 54 seats.
The PTI-backed candidates ran as independents due to the party losing the election symbol of ‘bat’ following controversy surrounding its intra-party elections.
By joining the two parties, the PTI will be able to claim a share of the 70 reserved seats in the national assembly and 156 reserved seats in the four provincial assemblies.
The reserved seats are allotted to the parties based on proportional representation.
The PTI-backed independent candidates were required to join a political party within three days of official notification of the election results by the Election Commission of Pakistan, which has not been issued so far.
However, the choice of the two parties by the PTI may invite scrutiny by its opponents as MWM is a Shiite party led by Allama Raja Nasir Abbas and it succeeded in getting only one seat in the national assembly but failed to get any seat in the four provinces.
On the other hand, the JI is one of the oldest hardline religious parties which supported the struggle in Kashmir and opposed the US forces in Afghanistan through rallies and protests.