JI eyeing alliance with Imran’s party: Baloch
Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami says their priority will be restoring the defunct MMA.
PESHAWAR:
Amidst growing popularity of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, a right-wing party has said that it may form an alliance with the party of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan.
“We intend to join hands with the PTI – but obviously our priority will be restoring the (defunct) Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal,” Liaquat Baloch, Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami told The Express Tribune on Saturday.
He was referring to the six-party religious alliance which had fallen apart over differences to boycott the 2008 general elections.
Earlier at a news conference, Baloch said that his party has finalised plans to launch nationwide protests against the Nato air raid in Mohmand Agency and the ‘erroneous’ policies of the government.
The first of these countrywide protests is scheduled to be held on December 18 in Peshawar. Attendees at the news conference included Sirajul Haq, Shabbir Ahmad Khan and other JI leaders.
Baloch blamed the government’s ‘sick’ policies for the Nato airstrike that killed 24 security personnel. He believes that if the government had taken action against US-led Nato forces earlier, they would not have attempted to violate the country’s sovereignty.
“US and Nato officials are now expressing concern over the bitter sentiments of the Pakistani nation,” Baloch said.
The JI also extended full support to the government’s decision of suspending Nato supplies, boycotting the Bonn conference and forcing the US to vacate the Shamsi airbase. He added that the United Arab Emirates was not supposed to hand over the base to anyone else.
JI leader Shabbir Ahmad Khan told The Express Tribune that the government has admitted that this is not the first time Nato forces violated Pakistan’s territorial borders and he, too, blamed the ‘ambiguous’ policies of the government for the Mohmand attack.
“We don’t want to fight the US and Nato forces but all alliances must be on the basis of equality,” Khan added.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2011.
Amidst growing popularity of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, a right-wing party has said that it may form an alliance with the party of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan.
“We intend to join hands with the PTI – but obviously our priority will be restoring the (defunct) Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal,” Liaquat Baloch, Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami told The Express Tribune on Saturday.
He was referring to the six-party religious alliance which had fallen apart over differences to boycott the 2008 general elections.
Earlier at a news conference, Baloch said that his party has finalised plans to launch nationwide protests against the Nato air raid in Mohmand Agency and the ‘erroneous’ policies of the government.
The first of these countrywide protests is scheduled to be held on December 18 in Peshawar. Attendees at the news conference included Sirajul Haq, Shabbir Ahmad Khan and other JI leaders.
Baloch blamed the government’s ‘sick’ policies for the Nato airstrike that killed 24 security personnel. He believes that if the government had taken action against US-led Nato forces earlier, they would not have attempted to violate the country’s sovereignty.
“US and Nato officials are now expressing concern over the bitter sentiments of the Pakistani nation,” Baloch said.
The JI also extended full support to the government’s decision of suspending Nato supplies, boycotting the Bonn conference and forcing the US to vacate the Shamsi airbase. He added that the United Arab Emirates was not supposed to hand over the base to anyone else.
JI leader Shabbir Ahmad Khan told The Express Tribune that the government has admitted that this is not the first time Nato forces violated Pakistan’s territorial borders and he, too, blamed the ‘ambiguous’ policies of the government for the Mohmand attack.
“We don’t want to fight the US and Nato forces but all alliances must be on the basis of equality,” Khan added.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2011.