LAHORE: Pakistan People Party (PPP) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) have agreed to cooperate with each other in the next elections.
The development was made after PPP chairmen Bilawal Bhutto met JI chief Siraj ul Haq yesterday at Mansoora in Lahore. The two-party leaders agreed on cooperation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Sindh provinces.
Sources said besides cooperation, the JI chief also extended its support to PPP for opposition leader in Senate’s opposition slot, sources said while quoting Siraj ul Haq who said during the meeting that since PPP has the majority seats; it has the right to have the slot of the opposition leader.
According to sources, Siraj ul Haq further suggested the PDM against a long march saying that it would be of no use and also not in favor of the country at present.
“JI even suggested Imran Khan that sit-ins and long marches will yield no political benefit,” the JI chief said adding that it only helps the third force to intervene and inflicts damage to the democratic system.
He further said that if the PDM insists on carrying out a long march then they would visit them and request them to end it. The sources further said that the two parties agreed to continue engagements with each other besides also reviewing the options of an alliance or seat adjustment in the future.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari after meeting with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq in Lahore on Monday mocked PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and said that “there is a family in Lahore who used to get selected in the past.”
After losing the two prime slots of chairman and deputy chairman in the Senate the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) appeared to be in tatters due to serious divergence on the issue of legislators’ resignations from assemblies and the choice over opposition leader for the upper house, which forced it to postpone the scheduled anti-government long march.
Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had announced that the long march scheduled for March 26 has been postponed. Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the PDM in Islamabad, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said nine PDM parties had agreed on the suggestion to submit resignations along with the long march.
However, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had concerns over linking the resignations with the march and had sought time to hold talks within its Central Executive Committee before informing the PDM of its choice.
