PML-Q eyes alliance with PTI, TMQ, JI to counter PML-N

A new alliance between right-wing political parties is in the offing as Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leadership is making covert contacts to join hands with Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Dr Tahirul Qadri-led Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran (TMQ), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and other smaller parties to counter Nawaz Sharif’s PML-Nawaz, Pakistan Today learnt reliably on Sunday. A well-placed source in the PML-Q told this scribe that the party’s leadership was set to make formal contacts with the leadership of other parties when party leader Shujaat Hussain returned from Saudi Arabia on January 2. “If initial contacts succeed, the PML-Q would be the second political party to jump the PPP ship and join hands with Dr Qadri, as the MQM is already in touch with the professor,” the source said. As the coalition with the ruling party is not working to its advantage, the leadership of the PML-Q is making efforts to create another coalition with some new, but promising, political parties to give a tough time to its major rival in the upcoming general election. The source said PML-Q President Shujaat Hussain and Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain Sayyed had been involved in an in-house consultation to weigh their options to form another alliance, as their coalition with the PPP was fast becoming a heavy baggage.
“We have been making contacts with some new parties to weigh our options. Through the back-channel, we are in touch with chief of Minhajul Qauran Dr Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan’s PTI to gauge if we could go to polls together,” another source privy to the contacts said, adding that formal contacts would be made after the return of Shujaat from Saudi Arabia.
“Soon after the successful show by Dr Qadri at Minar-e-Pakistan, Shujaat and Pervez Elahi contacted him and congratulated him on the powerful show,” the Q league source added. He said if a formidable alliance was made, the three powers could defeat the PML-N in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
“The failure to make a formidable alliance will leave an open field for the PML-N. We have strong contenders across Punjab and KP provinces who are “elect-ables”, while Imran Khan and Dr Qadri have strong following in public, especially among the youth,” he said, adding that the JI had street power and a sizable vote bank in every constituency. He said his party had already finalised an alliance with Sahibzada Fazal Karim’s party that was a major faction of Jamat Ahle Sunnat.
The PML-Q source said his party had to also taken up the matter within the party and views would also be sought from its members before making formal contacts with the PTI and Dr Qadri. He said the PTI leadership was reluctant, but his party would make a formal contact with Imran Khan through Mushahid Hussain Sayyed, who has a good relationship with Khan. “Mushahid has also worked with Dr Qadri when both were lecturers in Lahore and hence he also has good ties with Qadri,” he added. Asked whether their alliance with the PPP was over, the Q leaguer said though the alliance was facing hiccups, it was yet to end.
“Pervez Elahi believes that the PML-Q should not detach itself and any decision should be made after a meeting of the party leadership with President Asif Ali Zardari. However, this alliance is heading toward its demise for sure and both parties are looking for new options as their workers are not voting for each other’s candidates – meaning they have rejected this unnatural alliance,” he added. Neither PML-Q Secretary Information Kamil Ali Agha nor Shafqat Mahmood of the PTI attended repeated calls for comment.
Talking over telephone from Dubai, PML-Q Deputy Secretary Information Ghulam Mustafa Malik said politics was an art of making the impossible possible and nothing could be said as sure in politics. “In-house consultations are on to look for new options to go to polls. We have the support of political heavyweights in Punjab and sitting and former MNAs, MPAs and former nazims are with the party. A formidable alliance can help us defeat the PML-N in Punjab and KP,” he added. He said political pundits were under-estimating Shujaat and Elahi, who were senior politicians and knew the art of making and breaking alliances.