Inducting members: PML-N in talks with JI, JUI-F over electoral alliance

Sardar Bahadur quits ANP, joins N-League.

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is discussing a possible electoral alliance with the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

PML-N Secretary General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said they held formal talks with both the parties, but negotiations are in their preliminary stage.

Jhagra was addressing a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Monday when the Awami National Party’s (ANP) Peshawar district leader Sardar Bahadur joined the PML-N.

Other PML-N leaders including, Afzal Penyala and the youth-wing’s information secretary, Ali Khan Yusufzai, were also present. Jhagra said his party is open for talks with all political parties.

“Most parties are focused on the issue of seat adjustments,” he said. “PML-N is also prepared for holding talks on seat adjustment with any interested party.”



Party sources said the PML-N in K-P will start receiving applications from February 25 for party tickets. Party stalwarts Pir Sabir Shah and Amir Muqam were also expected to attend the conference but did not show up, hinting that differences remain within party ranks.

Bahadur said: “The ANP is not what it stands for. While it claimed to be the voice of Pushtuns and vowed to fight terrorism, it failed on both fronts and its leaders are corrupt.”

“For the last one month, the ANP leadership has been pressuring me not to quit but I cannot stay on the wrong side anymore,” he said. ANP leader Haroon Bilour came to his house but he ignored him, Bahadur claimed. “I was offered Rs100 million to stay in ANP but I am not for anything like that.”

Commenting on the procedure for awarding tickets, Jhagra said the Provincial Parliamentary Board (PPB) in K-P headed by the party’s provincial president will examine the applications. “After considering the performance of the prospective candidate, an interview will be conducted by the PPB.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2013.