October 13, 2007	Saturday	Ramazan 30, 1428

LAHORE, Oct 12: The Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf has decided not to coalesce with any political party or alliance and launch its electoral and political campaign independently from Oct 28 after the party seems to have been disillusioned with the two coalitions of which the PTI has been a member during the last two years.

Consequent to the PTI’s decision to keep distance from other political groups, the party’s drive for elections is most likely to be based on targeting not only the rulers but also its hitherto allies in two alliances that the party has joined since its inception more than 11 years ago.

“I will be going to the masses myself; I am starting this campaign (from Oct 28) to mobilise the people against the regime and exposing all those who have been in league with Gen Musharraf and they include the entire opposition”, PTI chairperson Imran Khan, who seemed disappointed by the APDM and the MMA’s recent political role, said while talking to Dawn.

Mr Khan’s party had been in coalition first with the Jamaat-i-Islami and the Muslim League (Nawaz) last year and of late it has been a component of the APDM which is also dominated by the religious-party alliance of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal. By joining the two alliances, the PTI has been facing the criticism of certain important quarters that it has aligned itself with the right-wing politics and that Imran Khan is closer to the Jamaat than other parties.

“We feel deeply disappointed by the high degree of opportunism demonstrated by the MMA, particularly the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, on the issue of the resignations and the dissolution of the NWFP Assembly. I think it is good that they have been exposed; not only the APDM but also the Trojan’s horses of the JUI-F have been playing a double game”, the PTI chief said and added that his party expelled its lone member of the NWFP Assembly when he refused to resign under the APDM’s decision.

He said the exposure of the ‘so-called’ opposition parties had also proved beyond doubt that the MMA in particular had been hand in glove with Gen Musharraf since the passage of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. The JUI-F’s game was clearer than others. They (the JUI) had been and continued to be in communication with Musharraf and it were they who gave legitimacy to the Musharraf’s presidential vote by delaying resignations and the dissolution of the NWFP Assembly, according to him.

Mr Khan said Benazir Bhutto and the MMA played an identical game in support of Musharraf as both had been using each other and their sole objective was to serve their vested interests. The APDM could have a role to play but it fell a victim to its indecision and expediencies and, thus, delayed action without a cogent reason, he said.

Even soon after its formation when spirits were high, the alliance did not positively respond to the PTI’s suggestion that its component parties should go to the people collectively and individually. “They have been delaying a mass-contact drive for reasons best known to the its leadership, but we cannot wait any longer. We have decided not to rely on others and depend on own self and we hope to deliver,” Mr Khan added.