(Disclaimer: this is a work of fiction. Learn to take a joke; you’ll live longer.)
LODHRAN/ISLAMABAD – After Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) candidate Muhammad Iqbal Shah defeated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Ali Khan Tareen to win the NA-154 by-election, PTI chief underscored that the defeat was deliberate.
Talking exclusively to The Dependent, Khan who had bit his nails all evening owing to the close contest in Lodhran, said that he was relieved that his strategy had worked.
“We deliberately lost the NA-154 election in Lodhran so that the world can know how perilous nepotism can be,” Khan said.
It is pertinent to mention here that Ali Khan Tareen was nominated by the PTI as the candidate for the National Assembly seat vacated by his father Jehangir Khan Tareen, after which Khan had come under severe criticism.
“People know about my decades old fight against nepotism. And what better way to highlight its hazards than starting off with my own party – and leading from the front,” Khan said.
The PTI chairman admitted that he was tense about the elections, and was worried the ploy might leak to the PML-N.
“They are so anti-PTI they would’ve actually lost the election, just to foil our masterplan,” Khan said laughing.
The PTI chief added that the NA-154 defeat has ensured that his party will be undefeatable in the general elections.
“After showing what support for nepotism can do, no one can stop us from defeating the Sharif family.”
