MARDAN, Aug 30: The People’s Party Parliamentarians and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) have formed an alliance to jointly contest the district and tehsil nazims’ election in Mardan district.

The announcement was made here by PPP leader Syed Rehman Mohmand. Mr Rehman said he and three other party leaders —Abdu Samad Khan, Iftikhar Mohmand of Shagai, Muazzam Khan and Khan Ghawas Khan – held a meeting on Monday night with two federal lawmakers from JUI-F, Maulana Shujaul Mulk and Maulana Qasim, and another two party members.

The two sides agreed to form an alliance at the Mardan district level, he said.

“It was decided that the post of district nazim would go to the JUI-F while the nazim seats for the district’s two tehsils would be given to the PPPP’s Awam Dost group,” said Mr Rehman Mohmand.

Mr Rehman said the two groups had the required majority to form the district government and instal their administration also in the two tehsils.

He said that although the Awam Dost group was in a strong position in Takhtbai tehsil, its position would be fortified after its alliance with the JUI-F.

Maulana Shujaul Mulk is JUI-F’s candidate for the post of district nazim while Muazzam Khan and Sher Afghan are the Awam Dost group’s candidates for tehsil nazim.

He said the candidates for naib nazim slots had not been decided yet.

He said the provincial president of PPPP, Rahimdad Khan, had given an open-ended offer to any party for an alliance in Mardan district.

Meanwhile, the central information secretary of the National Awami Party (NAP), Sardar Asif Ali Shah, has expressed surprise over the alliance between the ANP and Jamaat-i-Islami as the two parties had declared each other as infidels.

Mr Shah condemned the unholy alliance between the two groups and said they had exposed their true face to the public.