PTI may consider alliance with parties not in parliament: Imran

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Sunday said his party had not as yet decided to form a coalition with parties currently occupying the Parliament; however the option, he said, could not be ruled out for parties which had a presence outside the House, except Pervez Musharraf’s APML. In addition, he requested the people of Karachi to not vote for political parties who operated their own militant wings.
Talking to media at a local hotel after visiting intra-party election polling stations, Khan opined that errorless and perfect voter lists were essential for transparent elections.
He said in his sixteen-year political career, holding intra-party polls was the toughest decision he had introduced, however, the decision he said had materialised now that PTI was going through elections from the union council level up to the central leadership.
“No other political party has the courage to hold intra-party elections,” he said with pride, adding that after completion of these polls PTI would appear as a true democratic political force.
Khan termed these intra-party elections a “first step” towards introduction of a true democratic order in the country by eliminating family enterprises and autocracy from politics in the political parties.
He said following the party elections in the federal capital, the process would be conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and eventually the other provinces. The entire process, he stated, would be completed by the end of January, 2013.
While responding to a question regarding the situation in Karachi, he stated that his party still had concerns over voter lists in the city, however, PTI supported delimitation in Karachi, he said, adding that the decision of the Supreme Court must be accepted regarding Karachi’s voter lists.
He said all parties with the exception of one agreed upon new constituencies.
The PTI chief was of the view that “the ruling parties in Karachi have formed their own militant wings. Until and unless these militant wings are smashed, peace cannot return to the commercial hub of Pakistan.
Now the people of Karachi will have to decide whether they want peace and security or are they happy remaining hostages to these political militants,” he said.
On the Kalabagh dam issue, Khan said the dam should be built only if all provinces agree on the issue. “The PTI supports more water reservoirs to meet the energy crisis, but again consensus is a must to construct the dam”.
Khan said he feared if the dam was constructed without evolving a consensus, it might trigger unrest as the people of KP and Sindh had reservations on the construction of the dam.
“There is a dire need to remove their reservations,” he added.
The PTI chief said his party had requested the election commission to allot his party the election symbol of ‘scale’- symbolising justice- in the upcoming general elections.
Commenting on his post-election strategy; Khan said that the first thing he would do is to disengage Pakistan from the American war on terrorism; adding that such disengagement would make the “Jihad syndrome” go away.
Khan is known to be an outspoken critic of the use of American drones in Pakistan; describing them as a “violation of all humanitarian laws”. He also criticised the Obama administration for its handling of the situation in the region.
“We will be a friend of the US but we’re not going to be slaves of the U.S.,” he said.
“They are losing the war, because they are losing the hearts and minds of the people,” he told a Dubai-based Al Arabiya News Channel in an exclusive interview.
With just a few months to go until the upcoming elections, Khan seemed more confident than ever that he will emerge a winner this time around.
Khan also described the situation in Syria as a mess, adding that he “can’t understand any head of state killing his own people”.
As for the situation in Syria, Khan described the deadly conflict as “a mess.”
“I believe in democracy, I do not believe in these dictatorships but the problem is there’s a different stake when it comes to pro-US dictators and … anyone who’s perceived not to be pro-US like Libya or Syria. It’s the double standards that are causing problems,” he said.