Tareen IPP’s candidate for premiership

Party not to go for seat adjustment in election, says Aleem Khan

LAHORE:

The newly formed Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) on Tuesday disclosed that Jahangir Tareen – once a close aide of PTI chief Imran Khan – would be their candidate for premiership in the next general election scheduled to be held in October this year.

The revelation was made by party president Aleem Khan during Express News programme Kal Tak.

Expressing his views, Aleem maintained that his party would not go for seat adjustment with any political party in the election.

“[We] will contest against PTI and PDM in the next election because people are against both these parties. IPP will not make seat adjustment with any party in the polls,” he said.

Khan observed that Tareen would be their candidate for the premiership.

He predicted that the end of PTI was near, adding that several lawmakers would join the IPP after Eidul Azha.

Terming former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar inefficient and dishonest, Khan alleged that the provincial matters were handled by ex-first lady Bushra Bibi’s close friend Farhat Shahzadi alias Farah Gogi.

Referring to the PTI chief’s wife, he said all the decisions were taken by “murshid”.

The IPP was launched earlier this month by Tareen with a pledge to work for economic and social reforms.

Nearly 100 former PTI members of the national and provincial assemblies joined the new party, expressing confidence in Tareen’s leadership.

Several PTI deserters including former Sindh governor Imran Ismail, ex-shipping minister Ali Zaidi, former federal minister Amir Kayani, Firdous Ashiq Awan, Mahmood Molvi, Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, Murad Raas and Jai Parkash joined the IPP.

A number of PTI legislators had parted ways with the party after the government held Imran responsible for the riots that broke out across the country following his arrest in a graft case on May 9.

Protesters attacked the government infrastructure as well as the military installations and vandalised the GHQ and Lahore corps commander’s residence.

Tareen is known to wield influence over important leaders from Karachi, interior Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

One-time Imran confidant, Tareen, who helped the PTI form government in Punjab in 2018, developed differences with Imran after the latter allowed the FIA to lay hands on him in a sugar scam case in early 2021.

Later, Tareen’s group of 25 MPAs, including Aleem, was instrumental in toppling the PTI-led Punjab government. These lawmakers had voted in favour of PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz for the chief minister election in April last year.

In December 2017, the Supreme Court disqualified Tareen, who was the PTI secretary general at the time, declaring that he had proven dishonest under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution and Section 99 of Representation of People Act on one count among the multiple charges brought against him.

On September 27, 2018, the same apex court bench rejected a review petition filed by him.