Defending Ally: Shujaat reassures PPP of support

Party chief says PML-Q to contest next elections as coalition partner of PPP under a seat to seat adjustment.

BAHAWALPUR: Former prime minister and PML-Q chief Ch Shujaat Hussain assured on Saturday that his party would fully support the public mandate and that the government will complete its tenure, with no possibility of holding mid-term elections.

Addressing a news conference here on Saturday at the residence of former provincial minister Ch Tariq Bashir Cheema, Husssain believed that the memogate controversy was baseless and being used to destabilise the civilian government. Expressing doubt about the validity of the memo, Hussain said that President Asif Ali Zardari was “not a child” who needed intermediaries for correspondence with the US government.

Furthermore, Hussain questioned PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif’s intentions, referring to his recent statement where he pledged support for the creation of the Bahawalpur province. Hussain asked why his brother, Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, hadn’t made a statement doing the same. Speaking about PML-Q dissidents, Hussain said that everyone in politics had the right to join or quit any party.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2011.