Crossing over: PPP’s Sartaj Khan to back JUI-F candidates

Says he is not joining the party, only announcing support.

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) dissident leader Sartaj Khan has announced his support for Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) candidates.

Addressing a public meeting at his residence on Thursday, PPP’s senior vice-president for Peshawar district Sartaj Khan said he, along with his supporters, will be supporting JUI-F candidate Haji Ghulam Ali for NA-3 and Haji Mohammad Sharif for PK-9 in protest against the “dictatorial policies of PPP leaders including Asif Ali Zardari.”



Sartaj said he was not joining the JUI-F, but only announcing his support. He said JUI-F’s candidate for PK-9, Haji Sharif, had also been a PPP leader. PPP had declared him a candidate earlier, but did not issue a ticket when the time came which hurt the sentiments of the workers, he added.

The PPP Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chapter recently suspended Sartaj and Haji Sharif’s membership for violating the party’s discipline. However, Sartaj refuted the allegations and challenged the leadership to prove their claim.



On the occasion, Muttahida Deeni Mahaz candidate from PK-9, Qari Mohammad Qasim, also announced to withdraw his candidacy in favour of Sharif, saying he did not want to divide the votes of religious-minded persons. JUI-F NA-3 candidate Haji Ghulam Ali also spoke on the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2013.