• Fazl says will move forward with PML-N; Sana says talking to JUI-F on KP alliance
• Bilawal flays PML-N, PTI as ‘elite-centric’, vows to implement NFC Award

ISLAMABAD: As the political arena heats up in the lead-up to elections, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman after a meeting with PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday annou­nced that both parties have reached a seat adjus­tment agreement in a bid to cement their relations.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif called on JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman at his residence in Islamabad after making an appearance at the Islamabad High Court in connection with corruption proceedings against him.

There was no statement from the PML-N regarding the meeting between the two, but JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl said both parties have reached an agreement to contest elections together.

Maulana Fazl told reporters that JUI-F and PML-N have decided to “walk together in future” as well.

He said previously both parties had put up a joint front against the PTI led by Imran Khan. “There will be seat adjustments with PML-N and the rules of the game should be fair and equal for all the parties,” he added.

While calling himself and the PML-N leadership ‘mature politicians’, the Maulana said: “We will not make the upcoming election controversial; we will move forward together with the PML-N.”

Though he did not mention if the seat adjustment would be localised or across the country, Rana Sanaullah, who heads the PML-N’s Punjab chapter, told reporters in Lahore that the party was in talks with the JUI-F for seat adjustment in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said the PML-N would also woo electables in south Punjab to strengthen its presence. According to Mr Sanaullah, the PML-N had won 34 National Assembly seats out of 46 in south Punjab in 2013 polls, and in the upcoming polls, the party was eyeing up to 40.

However, PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui said it was premature to say both sides had agreed to seat adjustments. “Mian Sahib recently returned to the country and wants to meet all allies of the past and even those which were not part of any alliance,” he said in a comment on the meeting. “We had good ties with JUI-F in the past and we want to cement them,” he said.

Since both parties face criticism from the PPP, Maulana Fazl and Rana Sanaullah said they would not pay the PPP chairperson in the same coin, with the latter saying it would lead to bitterness between the two parties.

“…Bilawal should not target the PML-N as he remained with it in the PDM government,” he said and added that the PDM was not an election alliance. Maulana Fazl said, “We will not adopt an extremist attitude against the Pakistan Peoples Party.”

Bilawal in Upper Dir

In Upper Dir, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said the party would improve the National Finance Commission award and fully implement the devolution of power under the 18th Amendment if it came to power in polls.

Addressing a workers’ convention at the Dir Stadium, the PPP chief targeted the former ally and blamed it for hyperinflation.

“You saw the ‘Mehngai League’ that has given nothing to people except for inflation,” he said as the charged crowd chanted pro-PPP slogans. “The lion turned out to be a cat,” the PPP chairman jeered.

He said that political polarisation was not good for the country and added that his party had no issue with any political party but those who were creating problems for the nation would be an issue for him.

“The politicians of Lahore, especially are of the viewpoint that ‘either they would play or no one else’,” said the PPP chairman, adding the nation made Nawaz Sharif the prime minister thrice but he did nothing for the people. He asked what the elder Sharif would do if he was made the PM for the fourth time.

He said that they had formed an alliance to steer the country out of the crises and it did well in the start but its end was not well. He said the situation was becoming worse with every passing day.

“We are not aware of what our traditional politicians intend to do, but their politics is harming the people. We have to leave this politics behind if we are to solve the problems of the people, so that we can unitedly combat poverty, militancy and all other crises.”

The PPP always represented rural and marginalised areas and the neglected class of society, he said, adding that the PML-N and PTI represented the elite class. He said the Sindh card was for poor peasants not for the landlords.

The PPP chairman said the PTI chief Imran Khan destroyed the country and introduced the politics of hatred. “[Imran] Khan is in jail, I don’t like someone to be in jail as it is not a good omen,” he said. It seemed Imran Khan would not have any role in politics in Pakistan anymore, he added.

Meanwhile, PPP’s Balochistan chapter leader Sardar Sar Buland Khan Jogezai told a presser that Bhutto-Zardari would address a grand public gathering in Quetta on Nov 30 on the occasion of the party’s foundation day.

Zulqernain Tahir in Lahore and Saleem Shahid in Quetta also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2023