PPP, MQM want delay in presidential polls

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The former ruling allies, Pakistan People’s Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement, have agreed to push for the revision of forthcoming presidential election that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has slated for the 6th of next month.

The agreement between the now-estranged allies was reached during a meeting of PPP’s Senator Rehman Malik and the MQM’s Coordination Committee members on Friday at the Muttahida’s International Secretariat in London.

“The matters relating to the forthcoming presidential election were also discussed on the occasion,” an MQM statement quoted the London Secretariat as saying.

The MQM was represented in the meeting by the committee’s London chapter’s Deputy Convener Nadeem Nusrat and members Tariq Javaid, Kunwar Naveed, Muhammad Anwar, Wasay Jalil, Muhammad Ashfaq, Mustafa Azizabadi and Qasim Ali Raza.

The two sides, the statement said, agreed that the presidential poll’s schedule should be reviewed by the ECP.

They said the election for the slot of presidency must be held after completion of by-elections on national and provincial assembly seats that were still lying vacant.

The former interior minister discussed with the MQM in detail the country’s overall political situation, particularly of Sindh, the MQM-PPP relations and other matters of mutual interest.