Parvez Elahi says contact restored with old allies including MQM-P

Former Punjab chief minister and the President of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Parvez Elahi said on Sunday that the party had restored contact with old allies, including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Aaj News reported.

In a series of tweets, Elahi said MQM-P suffered a huge political loss after joining the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance and that there is a perception in their ranks that there is no point in continuing the alliance with the PDM.

His statement comes a day after MQM leadership lamented its deal with the PPP’s Sindh government.

“Only we can understand the outcome of the agreement that the MQM-P made with the PPP. We lost huge political capital because of making working relations with the PPP,” said MQM-P Convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on Saturday.

In his statement, Elahi claimed that the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) led Balochistan government and the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) had strong reservations about the incumbent government’s anti-Constitution and anti-national policies.

“Imran Khan will soon call a meeting of all the parties and communicate the next plan of action,” he added.

The PTI president also censured the PDM for its decision to boycott the Supreme Court’s three-judge bench hearing the polls delay the case.

“The PDM’s declaration based on unconstitutional demands is an open interference in the Supreme Court’s affairs. The government declaration has used threatening and insulting language against the apex court.”

Elahi claimed that the 13-party ruling alliance was taking its last breaths, and alleged that the PDM-led government’s last resort to stop the election would also prove unsuccessful.

A day earlier, the PDM decided to boycott the apex court’s three-judge bench during a meeting with PM Shehbaz in Lahore — a decision also backed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif.

Following the meeting, the alliance’s President Maulana Fazlur Rehman — who is also the chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) — said the bloc has no trust in the top court bench — headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.

“We have no faith in this court. The PDM doesn’t trust the bench comprising these three judges,” he said.