Marvi keeps mum on which party next

Ex-MNA attend­ed Ghotki rally but did not appear on stage.

KARACHI: Marvi Memon says she is undecided on joining the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, leaving the rumour mill to churn for another day.

Memon is an ex-MNA and former member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid. There was speculation that she would accept PTI chief Imran Khan’s offer after her resignation from the National Assembly.

Memon was at the PTI rally in Ghotki on Sunday where former foreign minister and ex-Pakistan Peoples Party leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced that he was joining the party. But Memon did not appear on stage with Imran Khan and Qureshi.

“I haven’t decided yet and I am in the process of consulting my provincial teams in all six territories and provinces with whom I have fought for haq (rights) in the last four years,” she told The Express Tribune. “The issues for which I was the first MNA to sacrifice a seat are our team’s priority right now. We will decide based on where we feel our national issues can actually get commitment for resolution.”

After she resigned in June over differences with the PML-Q when it decided to join the ruling coalition, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and PTI approached Memon to join their ranks.

Memon has attended a couple of high-profile events where Imran Khan was present, including the PTI’s sit-in against drone strikes in Peshawar and the Ghotki rally. This has obviously helped add to the rumours, but Memon is keeping mum for now.

“I haven’t decided which party or if I will contest the next elections,” Memon said, when asked if she would consider running as an independent candidate. She did say that her choice of constituency would be Thatta. In 2002, she was elected on a reserved seat from Punjab.

Memon has been a vocal campaigner for human rights and development, both during her tenure as MNA and after her resignation, and she has taken up several high-profile cases, including the Airblue crash in 2010. She is a vociferous critic of the current government and its policies and tends to take a populist stance on issues.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2011.