LAHORE: As the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf is making hectic efforts to woo the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for grabbing the slot of the opposition leader in National Assembly in the near future, its rivals are planning a counter strategy to foil the bids.

PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi is due to visit MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar in Karachi on Tuesday to discuss among other things the nitty-gritty of the mutual cooperation for replacing Pakistan Peoples Party’s Syed Khurshid Shah as the opposition leader.

Mr Qureshi claims that the suggestion had been initiated by the MQM and the PTI was responding it after a thorough consideration.

The contacts come on the heels of PTI chairman Imran Khan’s statement in which he accused Mr Shah of being hand in glove with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

JUI-F may opt for opposition benches to foil PTI-MQM bid

The National Assembly record shows that the PTI enjoys the numerical strength of 32 and the MQM 24. By joining hands they can dislodge Mr Shah of the PPP, which is represented by 47 MNAs while two members of the Awami National Party (ANP) are also unflinching supporters of the PPP.

The PTI-MQM alliance can further strengthen if the two parties win over four MNAs of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI).

The opposition leader has a great role to play in making certain decisions that may affect political scene in the run-up to the 2018 general election. For, the Constitution binds the prime minister to develop consensus with the opposition leader for installing the caretaker set-up, which will oversee the next general election.

Similarly, the two have to consult each other for the appointment of the next National Accountability Bureau chairman as the incumbent Qamar Zaman Chaudhry’s tenure is coming to an end in a couple of weeks.

Yet another appointment they will have to jointly make, though it may not affect the 2018 polls, is of the chief election commissioner. The incumbent retired Justice Sardar Raza Khan will retire on Dec 4, 2019 after completing his five-year term.

Keeping in view the importance of the slot of opposition leader, the ruling alliance led by the PML-N is also devising a strategy to counter the PTI-MQM plans.

A source tells Dawn that in case the PTI and MQM reach an agreement for cooperation to replace Mr Shah, the Jamiat Ulema Islam of Maulana Fazlur Rehman faction, an arch rival of the PTI, will depart the ruling alliance and opt for sitting on the opposition benches to foil the bid.

The issue was discussed between Maulana Fazl and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif recently before the latter left for London to inquire after Begum Kulsoom, where ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif was also taken on board, adds the source.

The JUI-F has 13 MNAs.

JUI-F leader Senator Hamdullah Saboor says he is not aware of any such strategy formed for checking the PTI-MQM bid to lay claim to the slot of opposition leader.

He, however, wonders how Imran Khan would eat his words about the MQM as the PTI leader had been terming the Karachi-based outfit a security risk for the country.

PTI-MQM differences: Mr Qureshi has admitted a couple of days ago that there does exist differences between his party and the MQM but says cooperation between the two is possible on issues like replacing the opposition leader.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2017