PESHAWAR: Former PPP provincial president Syed Zahir Ali Shah has claimed KP Chief Minister Pervez formally offered him to join the ruling PTI of late but he declined the offer.

He also insisted earlier, Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq and PML-N senior vice president Amir Muqam, too, had invited him to join their respective parties.

“I’ll stick to my commitment with the PPP leadership by staying with the party until death. Workers should end their differences and strengthen the party at grassroots level,” he told a news conference-cum-workers meeting at his residence on Thursday.

Mr Shah said CM Pervez Khattak had visited his house few days ago and invited him to join the PTI.

He said under the Pakhtun culture, he couldn’t disgrace his guest (CM) and therefore, he honourably saw him off but didn’t promise to leave the PPP.

Says he will stay with PPP until death

“The CM is my politician friend. He invited me to his party (PTI), which is his duty, but my duty is to strengthen my own party,” he said.

Accompanied by party MPA Nighat Orakzai and leaders Syed Ayub Shah and Zulfiqar Afghani, the PPP leader said he had a personal commitment with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto and would prove his love for them by remaining with the party until death.

He appreciated the leadership of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Asif Ali Zardari and said he would fully support Humayun Khan as the party’s provincial president.

Mr Shah said the PPP was a democratic party and its workers had the right to express their views freely on party policies.

He said the difference of opinion would help strengthen the party.

“A number of prominent personalities will soon join the PPP in Peshawar. The party will win the next elections in the province with an overwhelming majority to form government,” he said.

The PPP leader criticised both federal and KP governments for ‘doing nothing’ for the people’s welfare and claimed the activists had begun leaving the two parties ruling the province and centre.

MPA Nighat Orakzai complained that the PTI government had initiated no mega project in the province during the last four years and that the people lived a miserable life due to its bad governance.

Syed Ayub Shah and Zulfiqar Afghani urged the PPP workers to step up efforts for strengthening the party in their respective areas as part of preparations for the next general elections.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2017