Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has given his assent for the formation of a “grand opposition alliance” on the pattern established by the Tehreek Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan (TTAP), party leader Asad Qaiser announced on Thursday.
“PTI has decided to expand the opposition alliance in our meeting with Imran Khan,” the former National Assembly speaker told journalists alongside PTI Secretary-General Omar Ayub Khan and others after meeting Khan at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail. He said the PTI would approach all opposition parties, including the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) and Jamaat-e-Islami in a bid to secure their support and mount a collective challenge to the incumbent government led by the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz).
The PTI has been attempting to broker an alliance with the JUIF since the Feb. 8 general elections, making little headway. Meanwhile, JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman told a sit-in at Rawalpindi that his party was not interested in joining any alliance as such parties often compromise their principles for a seat at the table.
According to Qaiser, the PTI’s planned rally in Swabi was aimed at raising a “strong voice” for the release of Khan and other detained leaders and workers of the party. “This country can only be governed in accordance with the law and the Constitution,” he said.
The former NA speaker also slammed the government for heavy hikes to electricity bills, stressing they were unacceptable for a public already struggling under rampant inflation. He said the PTI supported the JI’s protest against the massive increases to power bills.
Ayub, meanwhile, urged citizens across Pakistan to converge on Swabi on Aug. 5 to show solidarity with Imran Khan and prove the PTI was the “most popular” party of the country. He said that Khan had, during his meeting with party leaders, strongly condemned the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and questioned the international community’s morality in failing to stop Israeli aggression against innocent Palestinians.
To a question on Khan seeking dialogue with the military despite accusing its leadership of various offenses, Ayub said the matter was not discussed during the meeting. However, he said, Khan had made clear that the military belonged to the nation and vice versa. He reiterated allegations of the PMLN and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) attempting to drive a wedge between the military and the PTI, as “the PTI represents the nation.”
He also rebuffed criticisms over his failure to secure Khan’s release, maintaining the legal battle was underway and the PTI could not “take rocket launchers” and force the founder’s freedom. He also slammed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for preventing the release of former first lady Bushra Bibi despite her not having any connection to the Toshakhana case.
The Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly also reiterated demands for Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamer Farooq to recuse themselves from hearing any cases concerning Imran Khan. He alleged that PMLN President Nawaz Sharif had returned to the country only after he was assured that CJP Isa was in office and had not set foot in Pakistan while Umar Ata Bandial was in office.