ISLAMABAD: Although the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) have set up a committee to explore the possibility of seat adjustments in the general elections, they appear to be adopting diverse election strategies.
While the PTI is interested in an unconditional countrywide support for its candidates, the latter is keeping its option open for seat adjustments with other parties, including the PML-N.
PTI chief Imran Khan and JI Amir Munawar Hassan met on Sunday in Lahore and expressed their willingness to contest the elections together.
In the committee set up by the two parties, the PTI team will be led by Javed Hashmi and the JI side by Liaquat Baloch. It will discuss the number of seats where the two parties intend to field joint candidates.
Mr Khan has categorically told the JI leaders that if they are interested in seat adjustment with the PTI they will have to stop meeting the PML-N leadership.
“We are clear on our part that if the JI is serious about seat adjustment with the PTI there is absolutely no chance for it to go for a similar adjustment with the PML-N anywhere in the country,” Shafqat Mehmood, spokesperson for the PTI, told Dawn.
He said it didn’t make any sense that on the one hand the PTI and JI were supporting a candidate in a constituency and, on the other, the JI and PML-N joined hands in another constituency. The two sides would have to settle this before going for seat adjustment, he added.
Mr Mehmood, who is also information secretary of the PTI, said the initial understanding between the two parties was to have a national-level arrangement on a seat to seat basis.
“Let us see how the committee which has been given four days to submit its recommendations works out a formula on the number of constituencies where the two parties can field joint candidates,” he said.
The PTI has categorically stated that it will not form an alliance or have seat adjustments with the parties which were part of the government either at the centre or in the provinces.
Mr Mehmood said the PTI was holding talks on fielding joint candidates with only those nationalist parties in Sindh and Balochistan which neither participated in the 2008 elections nor were part of the government.
Shahid Shamsi, spokesman for the JI, said his party had not given any commitment that it would not hold talks with the PML-N. In fact, he said, the JI and PML-N were in contact and working for a similar arrangement.
According to him, unlike a political alliance the basic philosophy behind the seat adjustment is that the two sides are free to talk to other parties at the constituency level.
Mr Shamsi said that at the Sunday meeting the JI leadership had asked the PTI chief to adopt a less rigid line in their talks, particularly towards the JI-PML-N contacts.
“We have summoned our provincial party chiefs who will assist Mr Baloch in his talks with the PTI whose input will be critical on the number of seats on which the two parties can join hands,” he said.
Talking to Dawn, a PML-N leader said that at the moment the JI was keeping its options open whether it should go ahead with the PTI or put up joint candidates with the PML-N.
With the PTI and the PML-N fighting their electoral battles against each other, the JI will have to choose one of them.
At the moment, he said, the JI appeared to be tilting towards the PTI but it would depend on the number of seats the latter offered.
The JI stance, the PML-N leader said, would be clear in a few days because all parties were now finalising their candidates.