Opposition parties likely to meet next week over alliance against PTI

PML-N, PPP, others to sit together to devise a common strategy

LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq said a multi-party conference (MPC) is likely to be held in the coming week to devise a common strategy to keep a check on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led federal government.

“It is the need of the hour that the opposition parties sit together and devise a common course of action,” Haq told The Express Tribune on Tuesday. He said he also met the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in connection with the MPC earlier this week.

“Fazl has also discussed the MPC proposal with the PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, who agrees with the idea of an opposition parties’ alliance,” he said.



Talking to the media on Tuesday, Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Hamza Shehbaz also hinted at joining hands with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ‘for the sake of the country’. “All opposition parties will have to play a joint role,” he said.

The PPP leader Nayyar Bukhari also confirmed that a multi-party conference is expected in the coming week. He said the purpose of joining forces would be to pressurise the government to take the right path and also to try to stop it from taking the country towards a state of deterioration.

“Just in 60 days, the PTI government has enhanced inflation in the country. It is not due to the bad governance of the previous governments but due to its own incompetence. The government has already lost confidence of the people of the country,” he said.

He said it does not matter whether or not the opposition parties manage to exert pressure on the rulers. The opposition parties have to play a responsible role, he added.

“In the MPC, we would talk about two main issues: The first would be the state of governance and the second issue would be inflation in the country which is result of the government’s bad policies,” he said.

He said this MPC would be the sole initiative of Maulana Fazlur Rehman. “Since it is his initiative therefore date of the conference will also be announced by him,” he added.



When asked if the PPP and the PML-N have already agreed on a limited alliance mainly to counter the government’s efforts to fiddle with the 18th amendment and the National Finance Commission (NFC) award, he said it is the bad policies of the government that has necessitated the MPC.

The PPP and the PML-N finally managed to join forces in the recently held by-elections, in which a seat adjustment formula had been agreed upon.