Elections ahead: 3 parties announce merger

Awami Jamhoori Forum, Awami Party Pakistan and Pakistan Awami Party have merged to form a new party.

KARACHI:

Three parties, the Awami Jamhoori Forum, Awami Party Pakistan and Pakistan Awami Party, have merged to form the Awami Party (Pakistan).

Its members announced this development at a press conference on Sunday at the Karachi Press Club. “Our party’s aim is to strengthen democracy through a volunteer federal structure, parliamentary control over the armed forces and other agencies and effective government at the local, provincial and federal levels,” said Fanoos Gujjar of its three-member presidium. He was joined by Dr Hassan Nasir and Jamil Omar.

Internal elections will be held within six months and they have invited people with political awareness to join. “Sixty-four years of misrule by the elite - the generals, feudals, tribal sardars, capitalists and their corrupt followers in the bureaucracy and clergy — have pushed Pakistan to the brink of political, economic and social disaster,” said Dr Nasir.

The party says it is registered with the Election Commission.

Its members said that they would focus on land reform, curtailing the powers of elite and promote the welfare of working people by providing free and compulsory secondary education and universal access to health and housing. The party has chapters in 57 districts across Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2011.