ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek Insaf Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said on Tuesday that his party had won 180 seats across the country, and the name of the party’s prime ministerial candidate would be announced by Thursday (today).
During a conversation with the media, after meeting with the party’s founding chairman and former premier Imran Khan in Adiala Jail, along with other PTI leaders, he mentioned that they had secured all three NA seats in Islamabad and an additional four seats in Balochistan.
Likewise, he explained that they had won a total of 115 NA seats in Punjab, 16 in Sindh, and 42 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, resulting in the party obtaining 180 seats nationwide. He expressed regret that their returned candidates were being offered sums ranging from Rs100-250 million.
The PTI has already decided to field its candidates for constitutional positions, he said, adding that they would announce the name of the prime minister’s candidate by Thursday.
“Allah has made us proud in the elections; the people gave us the mandate, but our mandate was robbed. The source of power is the people; our only demand is that whoever has the mandate should be respected,” he contended.
On this occasion, PTI senior member Senator Ali Zafar said that, for the first time after the election, they met PTI founder Imran Khan. He said that the PTI founder was consulted on political decisions. He quoted Imran Khan as saying that the nation had awakened, adding that the party supremo has instructed PTI leaders to start negotiations to form the government and elect a prime minister, chief minister, and speaker of the National Assembly.
Ali Zafar said that Imran Khan had instructed the party leaders to contact any party except the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQMP).
He mentioned that intra-party elections would be held within a week to 10 days, insisting that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) must accept the intra-party elections.
In a related development, PTI Information Secretary Raoof Hasan said that Imran Khan had given the go-ahead to the party to form a coalition with the Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) in the Centre and Punjab because the party had achieved a clear-cut majority with 180 seats in the National Assembly.
Speaking at a news conference after meeting the PTI founding chairman, Raoof said that the PTI would form a coalition government with the Jamaat-e-Islami in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa for reserved seats.
“On the instructions of Imran Khan, we will form the government in the two provinces and will redouble our efforts to form the government in the Centre as well.”
Conveying Imran Khan’s message, Raoof said that the formation of a government was the right of those who had emerged victorious in the elections, and hence it was their right to do so, and the power wielders must respect that.
He said that the PTI founding chairman had tasked him with holding talks with all political parties for the formation of a coalition government. Raoof also confirmed Imran’s stance of no talks with the PMLN, PPP and MQMP.
“I have been given the mandate by Khan to approach all political parties for coalition partnerships to continue the party’s political struggle for democratic values, not for power,” he said.
He said that the PTI founding chairman had nominated Ali Amin Gandapur as the candidate for the KP chief minister’s slot, and it was up to Gandapur to form the government as per the instructions of the PTI founding chairman.
Aamir Dogar, he continued, had once again been appointed the chief whip in the National Assembly to interact with the PTI-backed elected members.
He mentioned that Imran Khan was very concerned about the prevailing situation in the country, as he was saying that the country was heading fast towards an economic disaster. He said that Imran had emphasised that everyone’s top priority should be to improve Pakistan’s financial health, and he believed that going to the IMF would not be the best and most viable option because the financial body had attached severe conditionality to funding that would further compound the miseries of the inflation-ridden and poverty-stricken masses.
Therefore, Raoof said, according to Imran Khan, the best option to get the country out of the prevailing economic quagmire was to attract expatriates and large multinational corporations to invest in Pakistan, which could improve the financial health of the country. However, he went on to say that it was only possible with a politically stable and public-mandated government.
“We do not have enough time and decisions should be made at the earliest, as conscious and strong efforts are going on to impose the country’s biggest money-laundering group on the country, which is being controlled by the Sharif family,” he said.