Political cousins: PTI, PAT to resume demand for electoral reforms

PTI Punjab organiser said an independent commission should be formed for electoral reforms

LAHORE:

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehreek announced on Sunday they were resuming cooperation on the demand for electoral reforms to ensure free and fair transparent elections in the country. The decision was taken at a meeting between PAT chief Tahirul Qadri and PTI’s Punjab organiser at the latter’s residence.

Talking to newsmen after the meeting, PAT general secretary Khurram Nawaz Gandapur said Sarwar had called on the PAT chief to inquire after his health. He said the two leaders had also discussed the lack of progress on the Model Town killings cases. The murders of 11 PTI workers during local government elections were also discussed during the meeting, he said.

“Matters related to the political situation in the country and electoral reforms were also discussed in the meeting. The two parties agreed to continue engagement with one another over this,” Gandapur said.

Responding to a query posed to Sarwar regarding the time the PAT’s chief spent in the country, Gandapur said such questions were never raised about leaders of other political parties.

“Despite being away from the country for several years, the Sharif brothers were never asked about it,” he said.

He said it was unfair to compare PAT with other political parties, saying that the Tehreek Minhajul Quran had an international presence other political parties lacked. Gandapur said Qadri had not abandoned families of the Model Town martyrs. Later, Sarwar said the PTI and the PAT had been called “political cousins” by mainstream media.

“I visited Qadri to discuss strategy for the future,” he said.

He said talks between the two parties would resume once the PTI had held its intra-party elections.

“Intra-party elections are a big challenge for the PTI but the party is committed to holding them,” he said. “Elections are indispensible if we wish to ensure democracy within the party” he said.

Commenting on Qadri’s health, Sarwar said the PAT chief was in “full form.”

He said PAT’s decision to withdraw their provincial assembly candidate during the PP-147 elections had facilitated the victory of by PTI’s Shoaib Siddiqi.

He said an independent commission should be formed for electoral reforms.

“It is regretful that despite passage of over a year and a half, there has been no progress in apprehending those involved in the Model Town killings. Likewise there has been no justice for the families of PTI workers who were recently killed,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2015.