Batting for the other team: QWP MPA confirms he voted PML-N in Senate

Party claims Tanoli cast secondary votes for Nawaz league

PESHAWAR: In a startling revelation, Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) lawmaker Mohammad Ibrar Tanoli said he voted for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidates in the recent Senate elections and even turned down a million-rupee offer to do otherwise.

“I voted in favour of two PML-N candidates from Hazara,” Tanoli remarked in a press statement on Wednesday. The MPA from Mansehra, who was earlier sacked as forests and environment minister by K-P Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, said he voted for the candidates as they belonged to his native Hazara Division. In his statement, Tanoli confirmed he voted for Lieutenant General (retd) Salahuddin Tirmizi and Javed Abbasi. The MPA said he put party affiliations aside and supported these candidates on geographical grounds.

With two of its lawmakers having had a change of heart seemingly on the eve of Senate polls, the QWP reportedly formed a committee to probe the matter. The party confirmed that two MPAs did not vote for QWP Senate ticket holder Ammar Ahmad Khan.

However, insiders believe the MPAs diverged because PML-N dissident MPA Wajihuzaman chose to allegedly throw his support behind Ammar Ahmad Khan whose candidature the two QWP lawmakers were unhappy with in the first place. The PML-N MPA was later sacked by his party for ‘violating discipline’.

QWP’s provincial information secretary Tariq Khan told The Express Tribune Tanoli cast second priority votes in favour of the PML-N candidates, whereas his first priority was with QWP’s ticket holder. “Tanoli assured that second priority votes will go to PML-N candidates.”

Khan claimed Tanoli had taken party leaders into confidence over the issue.

Requesting anonymity, an insider said QWP Chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao issued a Senate ticket to Ammar Ahmad Khan without taking party lawmakers into confidence. He blamed poor party strategy for the failure to secure a single seat in the Senate. The source added Tanoli complained several times in the past over Sherpao’s failure to stand up for him when he was sacked as a minister by Khattak. He alleged Ammar Ahmad Khan was handed a Senate ticket in return for “kickbacks” and his candidature had nothing to do with party loyalty or affiliation.

Ammar Ahmad Khan’s elder brother Waqar Ahmad was also a candidate for a Senate berth, but withdrew at the 11th hour when PTI Chairman Imran Khan threatened to dissolve the provincial assembly if anyone was found guilty of horse-trading.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2015.