Govt, Opp look for allies as battle approaches

• PPP’s Aitzaz Ahsan says will urge party leadership not to support Nawaz govt ‘this time’

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday launched a drive to enlist opposition support as it builds momentum against the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) over the so-called Panama Leaks, even as the government side appeared to be seeking the opposition’s support for its own cause.

While the PTI has landed a number of body blows to the PML-N in recent days, it is still not clear if the party will be able to generate critical mass to force a favourable outcome when it goes to its announced sit-in later this month. The failure to mobilise all anti-government sentiment under one banner could result in the government avoiding the knockout blow.

The PTI has vowed to either oust the prime minister or force him to set up an independent judicial commission headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

On Tuesday, PTI senior leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi reached out to former colleagues in the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and asked for their support. He held separate meetings with the leaders of the PPP and Jamaat-e-Islami to formally ask them to unite under an anti-government banner.

Later in the evening, PTI leaders Jahangir Tareen and Abdul Aleem Khan visited the residence of PML-Q Chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to seek their support.

During the meeting between Shah Mahmood Qureshi and PPP leaders – Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Syed Khursheed Shah and Salim Mandviwala – held at the chambers of the opposition leader at the Parliament House, leaders of both parties agreed to carry out a joint struggle to push the prime minister to either resign or order a forensic audit into the Panama leaks.

A source privy to the details of the discussion told Pakistan Today that Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the PPP leaders that Imran Khan wanted to take all the mainstream political parties on board for a political struggle against the PML-N prime minister.

“Aitzaz Ahsan and other PPP leaders welcomed the proposal and agreed to carry out joint struggle against the Sharifs. They told the PTI leader that it was important to hire forensic auditors to probe the money trail,” the source said, adding that the final decision in this regard would be taken by Asif Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

NAWAZ IN LONDON TO PLEAD FOR ZARDARI’S SUPPORT, PPP UNLIKELY TO OBLIGE:

After the meeting with Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Aitzaz Ahsan asked his party to not support Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the issue of Panama leaks.

Aitzaz Ahsan told the media that Nawaz Sharif has no health problems and his London trip is nothing more than a pretext to go and ask for Asif Ali Zardari’s support.

“Nawaz Sharif is going to London on a one-point mission to meet PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari and plead for his support,” he told a private TV channel. Ahsan, however, warned that the PPP would be in trouble if it decided to support Nawaz Sharif this time.

“According to my credible information, Nawaz Sharif has no health problem and he is only going to London to bow before Asif Ali Zardari,” he said and added that the prime minister fears that Imran Khan’s movement can seriously damage his stature.

He said the Sharifs believe Imran Khan has the capacity to create a massive campaign and build public sentiment against them.

Aitzaz said that he would send his proposals over the situation to the chairman and co-chairman of the party.

GOTCHA!:

Aitzaz also thanked Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan for his new disclosures about the assets owned by the prime minister.

“We used to claim that the Mayfair apartments were owned by Nawaz Sharif but he has not declared them in his assets details. Now Chaudhry Nisar has exposed the prime minister’s ownership of the Mayfair flats,” he added.

He also rejected the claim made by the interior minister that the prime minister had never concealed the ownership of the Mayfair flats.

“If the prime minister did not conceal the Mayfair flats, why were these not mentioned in the assets details filed by the premier with the election commission?” the PPP leader argued, adding that Chaudhry Nisar had proved that the assets details filed by the premier were false.

He claimed that the premier had paid zero tax in the year when he had bought the Mayfair flats. He reiterated his claim that the younger brother [Shahbaz Sharif] is conspiring against the older one.

PM NOT TRAVELING TO LONDON TO MEET ZARDARI:

Rejecting the PPP leader’s claim that Prime Minister Sharif is visiting London to ask for Asif Ali Zardari’s support, the prime minister’s spokesman said he was traveling for medical checkup.

In a statement, the spokesperson said that owing to his national engagements, the prime minister had postponed his medical check-up a number of times.

The prime minister’s spokesman denied that the premier wanted to meet PPP leadership during his visit to London.

“The prime minister did not express the desire to meet the PPP leadership during his upcoming London visit,” spokesman Mussadek Malik said in a statement. The spokesman said no meeting was scheduled with the PPP leadership.

QURESHI MEETS SIRAJ:

In his meeting with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq, Shah Mahmood Qureshi sought the support of the religious party when PTI marches on the Raiwind estate.

The JI leadership agreed to the PTI’s request to join their march in principle but said that any formal response would be given after the party’s Shura makes its decision.

JI leader Shahid Shamsi told Pakistan Today that Sirajul Haq asked what the strategy of the PTI was going to be with respect to the sit-in.

“Qureshi told the JI leader that the party would unveil its plan of action during its Foundation Day rally scheduled for April 24,” Shamsi said. He said that the JI chief told Qureshi that his party had already launched “Corruption Free Pakistan” drive to ensure that the country was rid of the corruption.

“Since we are also going to hold a rally in Lahore on April 24, we will also announce our strategy there. We will try to work along with the PTI and other parties in our movement against the federal government,” Shamsi added.

PML-Q IS ONBOARD:

Pervez Elahi agreed to the PTI’s offer and said the Panama probe should reach a logical end.

“Every political party in the country as well as the entire nation is demanding a probe into the leaks,” Elahi said, and added the meeting had discussed many issues. He urged all parties to work together for the common national cause, leaving behind petty political differences.

Following the PTI leaders’ meeting with PML-Q leadership, Jahangir Tareen said that the Sharif family had become billionaires in a short span of time and that they would be held accountable. He said the people and political parties should stand united on Panama leaks, which is the most important issue in the country. Tareen said that Nawaz Sharif did not mention Mayfair flats in his assets declaration and the matter requires a thorough probe.