KASUR: PML-Q MPA Waqas Hassan Mokal joined the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Friday.

He was elected MPA from PP-180. He met PTI Chief Imran Khan in Lahore and announced joining the party.

Mr Mokal is the son of former six-time MPA Hassan Akhtar Mokal, who remained first in the PML-N and then in the PML-Q.

With Waqas Mokal gone, the PML-Q is left with no parliamentarian in the district. Mr Mokal will contest the next vote from PP-180, a constituency of NA-139, according to the new delimitation.

Until 2016, the PML-Q had visible representatives in the district. First, it lost MPA Muhammad Asif Nakai, son of former chief minister Muhammad Arif Nakai, to the PTI.

Mr Nakai kept on denying ditching the PTI only to avoid the floor crossing laws while his close relatives and aides, including Talib Nakai and Pir Mukhtar Ahmed, joined the PTI.

The PML-Q suffered another loss when former MPA Rao Shahid Qayyum also joined the PTI a few months ago. Mr Qayyum won the MPA vote in 2008 from the platform of the PML-Q but was disqualified over fake degree charges.

In the 2013 general elections, he was the PML-Q candidate. Mr Qayyum and his brother Rao Zahid Qayom were earlier loyal to the PPP before joining the PML-Q. Given the situation, the PML-Q has a bleak future in Kasur district as the party would hardly find any suitable electable for the voting day.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2018