Forging coalition: JUI-F’s Haideri to negotiate alliance with PML-N

Party forms a committee under the veteran leader to discuss the details of partnership.

ISLAMABAD: After receiving a formal invitation to join the government in the Centre, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl has tasked its central leader Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri to negotiate the terms of a coalition with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

The four-member committee formed under Haideri will hold talks with PML-N’s second-tier leadership to discuss further modalities of the alliance between the two parties. The other three members of the committee are Akram Khan Durrani, Maulana Gul Naseeb Jan and Malik Sikander Khan.

“The committee will discuss the details of the partnership with PML-N and will report back to the JUI-F cabinet committee, which will take the final decision,” said Jan Muhammad Khan Achakzai, the spokesperson for JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.



The decision to form the committee was taken during the meeting of JUI-F’s executive committee on Sunday. Earlier, PML-N leaders Senator Raja Zafarul Haq and newly elected MNA Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry visited the JUI-F chief’s residence on Saturday to formally invite the party to join the government.

Sources said the JUI-F leadership insisted on receiving a share in the Balochistan government and at least one important portfolio in the federal government, along with reserving the chairmanship of the Kashmir Committee for Fazl. The PML-N delegation said they would convey the demands to their top leadership which would take the decision.

The two parties have decided to hold further negotiations since PML-N was uncomfortable with the idea of taking JUI-F along elsewhere, apart from the Centre.

“The second-tier leadership from both sides has been tasked with resolving any deadlocks and finding ways to form an alliance that is acceptable to both sides,” said a JUI-F official. He said portfolios and other benefits will be discussed further along in the negotiations. The talks will initially focus on the legislative agendas of the two parties.

“We are a political party not an NGO and yes we would go for ministries as they are important in politics,” said the JUI-F official. He maintained, however, that ministries were not the party’s top priority. “The legislative agenda is vital.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2013.