Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Qamar Zaman Kaira on Sunday expressed optimism that JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the opposition's candidate for the presidential election, will drop out from the race and convince the PML-N and other opposition parties to support Aitzaz Ahsan.
Speaking to the media in Lahore, Kaira said Ahsan will be president if the JUI-F chief agreed to their demand. He said his party tried to convince Rehman during an All-Parties Conference and a separate meeting to persuade all other opposition parties to agree on the name of Ahsan.
Flanked by PPP leader Syed Khursheed Shah and Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Kaira said they will fight the election and they will do so. It would have been better if Maulana Fazlur Rehman had accepted their request, he added. He said they went to the PML-N to seek their support for the PPP's presidential candidate and were also willing to go to jail to speak to former premier Nawaz Sharif in this regard. He gave the example of Benazir Bhutto putting aside what had been done to her and signing the Charter of Democracy.
Kaira said it would be better for the country if Aitzaz Ahsan assumes the office of President of Pakistan. The president here don't have much powers, but if Ahsan becomes president, his powers will increase. He said that the position of president doesn't have that much power. Kaira said sometimes you need to put your own feelings aside to make compromises in politics.
If Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the opposition's presidential candidate, accepts what we're saying that will be good but if he doesn't, we will still fight the election. "We are here to contest the election," said Kaira, adding that if Rehman doesn't accept their demands, the result will be the same - the PPP will contest the election.
Khursheed Shah on the occasion said political game never ends, but continues. Earlier, while addressing to the PPP Senators, MNAs and MPAs of Sindh at Chief Minister's House in Karachi, PPP Parliamentarian President Asif Ali Zardari has said that Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan is one of the oldest Party friends and he is our candidate for the office of President of Pakistan.
Maulana Fazl Ur Rehman is also a candidate for the same office but we have to see which candidate could represent the image of the country more positively and dynamically. He said Ahsan had come forward as attorney of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto when late President Ishaq Khan had implicated her in fake case. He had then vowed that he would not allow Ishaq Khan to try Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto but would try him instead.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also spoke on the occasion. The address was held in connection to the Presidential campaign of Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari urged upon the legislators to vote for Aitzaz Ahsan and said that every effort is made in order to keep the unity of the opposition on one point agenda.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that it is the blessing of the democracy that three consecutive elections have been conducted in the country and power was transferred. He said that there is no comparison of Aitzaz with candidate of PTI for the same office of President of Pakistan. The presidential candidate Aitzaz Ahsan, CM Sindh Murad Ali, Shah Faryal Talpur, Khursheed Shah, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Qaim Ali Shah, Naveed Qamar and other party leaders were also present.