- ANP, BNP (Awami), PML-Q announce support for PPP’s Rabbani
The Awami National Party (ANP), Balochistan National Party (Awami) and Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid) on Tuesday announced their support for the Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP’s) presidential candidate Raza Rabbani.
A joint sitting of the parliamentary parties, including the PPP, ANP, PML-Q and BNP (Awami), took place at the Parliament House in wake of the upcoming presidential election.
During the sitting, the nomination of PPP Senator Rabbani as a presidential candidate was reviewed for which the party sought the support of all allied parties.
Kalsoom Perveen, Raza Rabbani, Syed Khurshid Shah, Aitizaz Ahsan, Afrasiyab Khattak, Yousuf Raza Gilani, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Qamar Zaman Kaira and other senior leaders from various political parties were present.
The PPP and allied parties also formulated a four-member special committee for seeking support from other political parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and PML-Nawaz in Rabbani’s favour.
It was said that if the PML-N was serious to take on board other political forces in the democratic journey it should have included Rabbani’s name in the presidential candidates it had proposed.
The PPP leaders were of the view that Rabbani was the best parliamentarian for the office of president as he had made many sacrifices for the sake of democracy and none of the PML-N candidates were fit to compete against him.
Syed Khurshid Shah informed the participants that he contacted Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) Chairman Fazlur Rehman to seek support for Rabbani.
Shah also presented a detailed briefing on the electoral votes of various political parties in the parliament.
The ANP and BNP (Awami) announced their support for the PPP candidate whereas PML -Q announced its support later after a meeting between Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and the four-member PPP committee.
