PTI and JI part ways on a good note

• JI assures complete support to CM Khattak in case of no-confidence motion against him

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) have called off their alliance of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government in a mutually reached decision on Thursday.

KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on behalf of PTI and Senior Minister Inayatullah Khan on behalf of JI announced the termination of the coalition partnership during a joint press conference on Thursday afternoon, with the JI leader ensuring that his party will support CM Khattak both in and outside the assembly till the last day of the government.

KP Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar, KP Law Minister Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi, Dr Haider Ali Khan and Shaukat Yousafzai of PTI, and Haji Habibur Rehman and Muzaffar Said of JI were also present on the occasion.

The JI had the local government and finance ministries in the alliance. The party had announced last week that they would be going their separate way after the restoration of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

“Today is a historic day,” said KP Local Government Minister Inayatullah Khan and added, “By parting ways on a friendly note, we have established a good political tradition”.

Furthermore, Inayatullah and Muzafar also announced their resignation from their currently held posts of local govt minister and minister for finance and statistics.

Inayatullah claimed that the JI had become a part of the PTI-led coalition in line with the 11-point agenda, which he said was implemented. The chief minister, on the other hand, said that due to the support of JI, his government succeeded in getting the most from the federal government.

When asked to justify the reason to keep the office after losing the support of the majority in the provincial assembly, CM Khattak replied that leaders of a number of opposition parties did not oppose him staying as the chief minister.

He also informed that the assembly session summoned for Thursday was postponed till May 14 with the consent of the opposition. He was, however, found unsure when questioned if a final session of the assembly will take place or not.

It is pertinent to mention here that earlier, Chief Minister Khattak had called on JI chief Sirajul Haq and requested him to keep the coalition partnership intact till the last day of the government. But the JI leaders, according to Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s (MMA) decision, expressed the inability to do so but assured of continuing support to PTI government in case opposition moved a no confidence motion against him and for the passage of budget as well.

Speaking at the press conference, Inayatullah said that the MMA was in its preliminary stages and its organisation was yet incomplete. He added that they were parting ways with each other, according to the arrangements agreed upon for the general elections.

He said that they intended to promote a culture of cooperation and appreciation in politics rather than that of accusations and criticism. He added that the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and JI were different parties with different manifestos, but were joining each other in the MMA according to an agreement.

CM Khattak also said that a consensus had been reached in a Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting regarding the implementation of AGN Qazi Formula for deciding hydel net profit. He added that now, KP would receive Rs100 billion on the new basis whereas since 1992, it was capped at Rs6 billion only.

The chief minister also announced that all the political parties had agreed on the merger of Federally Administrative Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from next calendar year. In this connection, he said that elections for provincial assembly seats in FATA will be held in March or April next year.

He added that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbassi has already announced the holding of local government elections throughout FATA in coming October.

Khattak also urged the leaders of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) to negotiate with the government constituted jirga, which according to him could help in meeting its demands. In this connection, the chief minister assured of personally visiting and talking to the PTM leaders for the purpose.

He added that demands of PTM were genuine but the way adopted for its acceptance was not right.