Big fish woo small fry

PTI chases smaller parties to support Imran’s challenge as PPP attempts to prop up Khursheed

ISLAMABAD: The current numbers game in the National Assembly shows that smaller opposition parties will have a not-so-minor role in an upcoming political move aimed to oust Khurshid Shah from the position of leader of the opposition in the lower house of Parliament.

With full knowledge of the need to get them on board, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Pakistan Peoples Party have been in constant contact with the leadership of smaller opposition parties including Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid.

The PTI has a total of 32 MNAs in the National Assembly, three of whom – Ayesha Gulalai, Siraj Muhammad Khan, and Nasir Khattak – have essentially parted ways from the party.

Clouds of uncertainty still loom over any chance of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) entering into an alliance without attaching any conditions over the nomination of a candidate for opposition leader, but given its 22 MNAs, the party still carries some weight.



MQM had 24 MNAs in the assembly, but Asif Hasnain has since joined the PSP and Sufyan Yousuf is currently living in London and had shown his allegiance with MQM founder Altaf Hussain.

If PTI and MQM join hands, they would have a total of 51 MPs supporting their candidate, and the sole Awami Muslim League MP – Sheikh Rashid – would push this number to 52.

On the other hand, the largest opposition party, the PPP has a total of 47 MNAs. Awami National Party and Quami Watan Party (Sherpao) have announced their support for Khurshid Shah. Both these parties have three MNAs in the National Assembly. In this way, PPP already has the support of 50 MNAs to oppose PTI and MQM.

And there comes the significance of JI’s four MNAs and PML-Q’s two MNAs. Along with independents, these five votes would be decisive.

Talking to The Express Tribune, JI MNA Sahibzada Tariqullah said PTI and PPP leaders recently approached the JI’s leadership. He said a PTI delegation was scheduled to formally hold a meeting with the JI leaders on November 3, while the PPP would meet his party’s leaders during the next week.

He added that the JI would take a decision after meeting with both sides.



To a question, Tariqullah said he personally thinks that that move would further weaken the already-fragile opposition. “During the last four years, Khurshid Shah has played a good role as opposition leader,” he opined, adding that the assembly was about to finish its five-year term and an “adventure” would only create rifts in the ranks of the joint opposition, which would ultimately benefit the government.

A senior PML-Q leader said their party leaders would meet soon after the Ashura holidays to discuss the matter. He said both parties had contacted Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in this regard.

Amid this complex numbers game, PTI spokesperson Naeemul Haq once again clarified that after getting the required support in the lower house, PTI chief Imran Khan would be the opposition’s candidate for the slot.

But the MQM remains indecisive, as its MNA Sohail Mansoor Khawaja said his party was still mulling its options and has not taken a final decision on whether or not to support the PTI.

PTI chairman criticises foreign minister

Meanwhile, PTI chairman Imran Khan took time on Thursday to fire the Twitter cannons on Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif for his recent remarks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, saying “with such a foreign minister, who needs enemies?”



“Khawaja Asif’s comments of ownership of militant groups coming from a foreign minister undermining Pakistan’s security,” the PTI chief claimed in a series of tweets on Thursday.

During an interview with Asia Society held in conjunction with the UN session in New York, Asif said Hafiz Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba were liabilities of Pakistan and called for time to get rid of them.

Referring to Asif’s statement that Nawaz had paid a political price for attempting to make peace with India, Imran said, “Now evident that Dawn leaks was a deliberate attempt by PML-N to target the Pakistani military at a time when it is fighting our enemies on multiple fronts.”

The PTI chief went on to add that the “Sharifs and their cronies [were] desperate to appease the Indo-US lobby and interests as their loot and properties [are] all stashed away in the West.”

Asif has already come under fire from the opposition and even members of his own party such as former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar for saying that Pakistan must get its house in order, in reference to the activities of militants.