Wobbling unity? PTI searches soul on partnering with PPP

Party leaders question Khursheed Shah’s walkout after PM’s speech

ISLAMABAD: As the Pakistan Peoples Party leads the opposition’s combined charge against corruption, rank and file of the second largest opposition group, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is doing some soul-searching on taking a back seat.

On Monday, after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif concluded his 30 minute-long speech on the floor of the assembly giving details of his family’s assets, the Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah got up and made the entire opposition march out of the lower house.



The decision seemed to take PTI leaders by surprise and background interviews by PTI MNAs suggest that the third largest party in National Assembly was not too impressed by Shah’s decision to boycott house proceedings at that particular time.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan had come prepared for Monday’s session. In addition to lugging documentary evidence to counter Nawaz’s claims, he had painstakingly taken notes during the PM’s speech perhaps for a blow-by-blow response. But his turn to speak in the house never came.

Later, when the opposition gathered to address the media outside the parliament house, it was Shah who once again took the lead to explain their stance and the reason for storming out when they did.

But PTI workers raised their eyebrows on this move.

Some PTI leaders believe that the bitter experience of their solo 126-day long agitation against the government in 2014 that may have pushed the party into joining hands with the PPP over the Panamagate scandal. But the tactical move seems not to have gone down too well with some leaders.



Party sources have told The Express Tribune that Fauzia Kasuri, a founding member of PTI, has expressed her reservations over the PPP taking the lead in opposition matters.

In an email to the party leadership, Kasuri said she was disturbed by recent developments, noting that she was ‘sad’. Calling it a ‘tragedy’ she lamented that a ‘compromised’ PPP was leading the crusade against corruption.

However, PTI Secretary for Information Naeemul Haq said he has not seen the email as he dispelled notions that the PPP was dictating decisions with respect to the opposition. He insisted that all decisions of the opposition were taken after due consultation.

But the echoes of discontent are far from dying down.

Akbar S. Babar, another founding member of PTI who developed differences with Imran over internal corruption and lack of accountability in the party, expressed surprise over recent moves by its leaders.

“It was only yesterday that Imran would label leaderships of PPP and PML-Q as the most corrupt on earth. People voted PTI for change, but the only visible change is that PTI and Imran have changed and joined forces of status quo,” Babar complained.



A sitting senator of PTI, however, framed the decision in a scale of good and bad aspects.

“I think it [PPP in driving seat] should be weighed and I would ask [PTI] Chairman and the leadership to discuss pros and cons, and whether our decision is right or wrong,” Senator Mohsin Aziz told The Express Tribune on Wednesday as he confirmed that there was a split in the party on whether Imran should have spoken after the PM ended his speech..

He defended the party’s decision to join forces with PPP stating that a united effort by opposition parties was need of the hour.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2016.