‘Formal alliance of PML-N, PPP in the offing’

Senator Mushahidullah Khan says opposition parties may join forces after Ramazan

LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is considering forming a formal alliance with the Pakistan People Party (PPP) to give the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government a tough time, said the PML-N Senator Mushahidullah Khan.

“Both sides are already united against the government on the opposition benches but a formal alliance is being hashed out by the senior leaders of both parties to put up a united front against this government,” Khan told The Express Tribune.

He said any public announcement regarding the alliance would be made after Ramazan. This alliance, he said, would subsequently call an all opposition parties conference to prepare a joint roadmap.

“Both opposition parties, however, agree that they would not support or adopt any undemocratic means to topple the PTI led government and the movement would be democratic in nature,” he added.

Regarding the previous efforts for forming a joint opposition front, he said the opposition parties support each other on the issue to issue basis due to the understanding reached during preceding efforts of forming an all parties’ alliance.

“The PML-N will announce its future strategy at an appropriate time. Our party has never taken decisions under pressure in the past and would not make such decisions in the future,” he added.

He, however, did not disclose who were spearheading the discussions from PML-N sides given the absence of the PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif from the country.

Khan said the party policy comes from party’s supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, who is ‘here with us’ to give his instructions while party president will also return soon after his medical checkups.

Regarding the role of Maryam Nawaz in leading the party out of its current crisis, he said Maryam is now party’s vice president so she will lead the party alongside other senior party leaders.

The PPP leader and former Senator Farhatullah Babar, however, denied knowledge of any such development. He said both the parties are already collaborating on the issue to issue basis.

“The possibility of any such alliance being formed in near future cannot be ruled but no such development is taking place right now,” he said.

The PML-N’s recent restructuring is seen as a change of party policy from the moderate approach of Shehbaz Sharif as adopted after July 2018 general election to a more aggressive approach of Nawaz Sharif, with party hawks taking over the front row seats.

Senior leaders of other political parties view this change as an end of confusion within the PML-N regarding the party policy. They claim that either this change can be a sign a hard-hitting approach or a ploy to be used as a bargaining chip.

Maryam Nawaz has also become active on Twitter once again, criticising the government for its poor governance and financial policies. This is also been seen as an indication of her return to mainstream politics after a gap of many months.