PPP’s solo flight pushes PTI to name Justice Wajihuddin as presidential candidate

The opposition parties stood divided on Saturday over fielding a joint candidate for the election of president due to be held next month as following the PPP’s nomination of its presidential candidate, the PTI also named its candidate – a distinguished former judge for the presidential candidate, who has played a vital role against the forces of tyranny and independence of the judiciary – Justice (r) Wajihuddin Ahmed.

“The decision to appoint Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed was taken after consultations with the senior leadership,” a statement issued by the PTI media office said.

On Friday, the PPP named Raza Rabbani, the party’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, as its nominee for the presidential election.

Pakistan Today had already informed its readers that the opposition parties would not field a joint candidate for the presidential polls.

A PTI source said Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khurshid Shah had contacted PTI’s Deputy Parliamentary Leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi some days ago urging the party to field a joint candidate in the presidential polls.

“Qureshi had suggested that the PPP and the PTI field a joint opposition candidate not affiliated with any political party but one having national standing. However, later the PPP announced their party candidate without consulting the PTI leaving the party with no choice but to name its own candidate for the slot,” the source added.

The source said the PML-N leadership had also contacted the PTI to seek its support for their candidate. However, the PTI consensus was to put up its own candidate, the source added. “Hence, the PTI leadership unanimously requested Justice (r) Wajihuddin Ahmed to be the party’s presidential candidate,” the source said.

Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) chief Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told Pakistan Today that his party wanted a joint opposition candidate and it had made an attempt to converge the differences between the PPP and the PTI but to no avail.

“Since the PPP went solo by announcing its candidature without consulting any opposition party, it seems now beyond any doubt that a joint candidate may not be fielded from the opposition benches,” Sherpao added.

A source in the PPP told Pakistan Today that the former ruling party was pursuing the politics of reconciliation and it wanted to return the favour to the PML-N which the Sharifs had extended to President Asif Zardari in 2008.

“Under an agreement, the PML-N had facilitated the election of Zardari as president making sure that the then opposition did not field a joint candidate against him,” the source said.

The source added that prior to fielding Mushahid Hussain Sayed, the PML-Q leadership had contacted the PML-N through then senator SM Zafar, asking the Sharifs to field a joint candidate for the slot. The source added that the PML-Q had also assured the PML-N that if a joint candidate was fielded, the MQM and the JUI-F would also extend support to it as Shujaat Hussain had done his homework in this regard.

However, the source added that the Sharifs had shrugged off the offer, thus facilitating the election of President Zardari. “So we will return the offer of PML-N this time round and would make sure that a joint candidate is not fielded against the PML-N’s nominee,” the source added.

Despite repeated attempts, Khurshid Shah did not respond questions on the subject.