'Disgruntled' PTI MNAs from Karachi meet Tareen

In an important development on Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan's one of the most trusted aides Jahangir Khan Tareen held a meeting with him amidst the reports that the PM has once again tasked him to woo the disgruntled lawmakers from ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its coalition partners.

The meeting took place at Prime Minister's Office. A brief statement from the PM's Office said, "Overall political situation in the country and party-related matters were discussed in the meeting."

In a related move, five 'disgruntled' PTI MNAs from Karachi met Tareen at his residence in Islamabad. The MNAs included Shakoor Shad, Jamil Ahmed Khan, Attaullah Advocate, Faheem Khan and Aftab Jehangir, sources told Business Recorder.

The MNAs complained to Tareen that the PM, on earlier occasions, assured the PTI MNAs of releasing development funds for Karachi but did not honour this commitment. "These MNAs have been trying to get a meeting appointment from the PM but unsuccessful," a source privy to the matter said.

Tareen assured the PTI MNAs that he would arrange their meeting with the PM and request him to prioritise the pending release of development funds, the source said.

When contacted, MNA Shakoor Shad, one participants of the meeting, confirmed to Business Recorder that the PTI MNAs from Karachi raised the issue of non-release of development funds with Tareen.

"There are certain bureaucratic hurdles and procedural hitches which have so far prevented the release of development funds for Karachi but Tareen sahib has assured us that this issue would be taken care of and the matter would be resolved on priority basis," he said.

To a query, he hinted at the possibility of a meeting with the PM in near future. "We are sure that he [Tareen] would try to arrange our meeting with the PM and we hope for a positive outcome on this front."

Shad denied the reports of a creation of PTI MNAs forward bloc from Karachi in the National Assembly.

"Prime Minister Imran Khan is our leader and we are part and parcel of the PTI. Our demands regarding Karachi have nothing to do with the creation of a forward bloc. We have our wholehearted and unconditional support for the federal government and the PTI under the leadership of Imran Khan," he told Business Recorder.

Last month, the PM tasked Tareen to address the concerns of Muttahida Qaumi Movement MQM Pakistan (MQM-P) following Information Technology Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui's announcement to quit federal cabinet citing "apathy of the federal government regarding Karachi."

Moreover, the PM had also formed a committee including Tareen to address similar reservations of Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q), the PTI's coalition partner in Punjab.

But this committee was dissolved and with the establishment of three committees by the PM on 26 January, minus Tareen, reservations of the already disgruntled coalition partners regarding the Punjab government mounted.

It is unclear why Tareen's role was ended but the PML-Q strongly opposed this move and accused the PTI of not showing any seriousness in engaging in dialogue with the coalition partners to address their reservations.

"In the PTI, he [Tareen] is the leader who can get things to go his way to the benefit of Imran Khan. Excluding him from the negotiation process is a result of internal lobbying within PTI. Tareen is also not happy which is why he went to London," a PTI leader told Business Recorder on the condition of anonymity. The PM, he said, "realised his mistake, called Tareen from London and assigned him responsibility to engage the PTI MNAs as well as the coalition partners," he said.