ISLAMABAD: The joint opposition is likely to field a candidate for the office of prime minister against Shahid Khaqan Abbasi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the ruling party’s choice for interim prime minister.

But this will be a purely symbolic move: the government has the 172 votes required to comfortably secure Mr Abbasi’s election as leader of the 342-member house.

In near simultaneous remarks, leaders from both the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) announced their intention to field an opposition candidate for the slot of PM.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khur­sheed Shah told reporters at the National Press Club on Saturday that he was establishing contact with the parliamentary leaders of different political parties. He said that a meeting of opposition parties would be convened next week to agree on a name.

PTI nominates Dr Yasmeen Rashid as candidate for NA-120 by-poll; opposition parties to meet next week

Mr Shah confirmed to Dawn that he was in contact with PTI’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi, MQM’s Dr Farooq Sattar, Jamaat-i-Islami emir Sirajul Haq, Aftab Ahmad Sherpao of the Qaumi Watan Party and Ghulam Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party.

Mr Shah said the apex court had made history by disqualifying Nawaz Sharif and welcomed the verdict, saying it should be accepted by all sides.

He said he had advised Nawaz Sharif not to ignore parliament, but regretted that his words were in vain. He had the same advice for the ministers, whose empty chairs in Parliament House, he said, were painful to behold.

Mr Shah said that even though Nawaz Sharif had clinched the coveted office by standing on the shoulders of democracy, he had no idea what democracy was all about.

“The reason was that he was not the part of democratic journey,” he said, adding that the Sharif family could not even face the mild martial law of Gen Pervez Musharraf. The family had spent nine years abroad, most of them in Saroor Palace while Musharraf was in power, he recalled

He claimed that the PPP wanted to annul the qualification and disqualification clauses in the Constitution, but the idea was opposed by the PML-N.

Separately, speaking to mediapersons after a meeting of the PTI parliamentary parties in the National Assembly and Senate, Shah Mehmood Qureshi confirmed he had been invited by Mr Shah to the meeting where the name of a joint opposition candidate for the office of prime minister would be decided.

Mr Qureshi said that though the PPP should have contacted other parties before announcing their decision to field a candidate against Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, he had agreed in principle to discuss the idea.

He revealed that the PTI would also field a candidate for the National Assembly seat of the disqualified prime minister, adding that Punjab PTI Secretary General Dr Yasmin Rashid would be the party’s candidate against Mian Shahbaz Sharif in NA-120 (Lahore-III).

Talking about the parliamentary parties’ meeting, he said the sitting reviewed the political situation in the country following the Supreme Court verdict.

Claiming that the PTI’s stance had been vindicated, he said the ruling party was trying to give the impression that the court had disqualified Mr Sharif for concealing his salary, not corruption.

He pointed out that the verdict had two parts; under the second part, various cases of alleged corruption had been referred to the National Accountability Bureau.

He also rejected the PML-N claim that this was part of an “international conspiracy against democracy”, saying that statements from Washington and Beijing made it clear that there was no element of international conspiracy.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2017