As the general elections draw closer in the country, former ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) decided to make contact with other political parties from next week.
According to a statement, the decision was made during a meeting of a sub-committee of the PTI core committee held on Saturday.
The development came two days after the PTI top brass met Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, with the approval of party chairman Imran Khan.
It was an unexpected development as Imran, for years now, has targeted Fazl — and vice versa — and both are considered arch-foes. Fazl’s party was also part of the coalition government and helped remove Imran from power via a vote of no-confidence in April last year.
The meeting was held days after Fazl had agreed to play a leading role in national reconciliation in a bid to bring political stability to the country.
“A schedule for meetings with different political parties has been finalised,” read the PTI statement.
Matters related to the current political landscape in the country and various aspects of the PTI’s political strategy in connection with the upcoming elections were discussed in the huddle.
Without giving an exact date, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) last month announced that general elections in the country will take place in the last week of January 2024.
The PTI also lauded the Pakistan Peoples Party for its statements about a “level-playing field” and not accepting “minus-PTI results”.
On October 26, PPP Secretary General Nayyar Bukhari urged the ECP to announce the election date. Without naming the PML-N, the PPP leader accused the caretaker government of providing “special treatment” to a party.
“Questions will be raised on the poll results if level playing field is not given to all,” he added.
Earlier, PPP Punjab acting president Rana Farooq made it clear: “We don’t support whatever Imran Khan and his party have done. But it must be kept in mind that minus PTI, the results of elections will not be acceptable to anyone.”
Stressing the need for free and fair elections, the PTI demanded that all political parties should be given equal opportunities to participate in the electoral process.
Excluding a certain political party from the electoral process under the “London agreement” would have negative impacts, the PTI added.
“PTI will welcome every positive role for free, fair timely elections,” read the statement.
