Former special assistant to Prime Minister Nadeem Afzal Chan on Sunday rejoined the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), admitting that his decision to join the ruling party was ‘wrong,’ Aaj News reported.
While addressing a press conference alongside PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and other senior leaders of the Sindh ruling party, Chan said that his decision to leave the PPP ahead of the 2018 elections was based on political and family pressure.
He said that he and the people of his constituency were happy with his decision of rejoining PPP.
Chan contested the general elections on PTI's ticket from NA-88 (Sargodha -I), but lost. His brother Gulraiz Afzal Chan is currently a PTI member of the Punjab Assembly from the PP-68 constituency of Malakwal.
He was appointed as Prime Minister Imran Khan's aide on Parliamentary Affairs in January 2019, however, he resigned from the post in January 2021, reportedly over the delay in the visit of PTI leaders to Quetta’s Western Bypass where the families of the Machh massacre victims were staging a sit-in, demanding justice.
Bilawal termed Chan’s move “good news” for the party, saying that he appreciated the roles of “all workers who had been associated with the PPP [not only today but also] in the era of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.”
“I invite all the workers who have chanted slogans of the PPP and waved its flags to rejoin the party,” he said, adding that Chan's reentry in the PPP affirmed that people of Pakistan had been ‘suffering’ from difficulties and that it should be addressed.
The PPP chairperson said that all the opposition parties had the same agenda and that was a free and fair election, alleging that the PTI government was under intense pressure that has never been witnessed in the past.
“No-confidence motion is a test for the government,” he said.
Reiterating the PPP's demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Bilawal said the premier would have to resign before the no-confidence motion to be tabled in the National Assembly. "If he does not resign, we will go to Islamabad and bring the motion to de-seat the unconstitutional prime minister," he added.
The opposition was opting for a no-confidence motion in protest as a tool to shake the whole government and "we are going for it", he said. "It is worth taking the risk to challenge this government so that people of the country will come out of the crisis, that included the foreign policy of the country and other stuff that has made this country so much polarised that no discussions could be held," he added.
He also talked about the establishment's role in the politics of the country, saying that according to history the establishment had "never been neutral" in politics. "The real test [of the establishment] will be in the upcoming days and everyone will see that."
Responding to a question on not trusting Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supremo Nawaz Sharif and that the PML-N's narrative that Bilawal had been "selected" as the next premier, the PPP chairperson said that no efforts should be made to initiate a fight between the two opposition parties.
The PPP chairperson also noted that the party would not take any "extreme step" in case the no-confidence motion got failed against the PTI government. However, he added the party would continue struggling for democracy in the country.
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