Karachi: Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has sought the support of its former nemesis MQM-P to form the federal government, a media report said Tuesday.
Khan’s pointman Jahangir Tareen flew into Karachi from Islamabad Monday evening and invited former rival Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan to join the PTI-led government, the Dawn reported.
Karachi-based MQM-P, which ruled Pakistan’s commercial hub for decades, managed to get just six National Assembly seats — four in Karachi and two in Hyderabad — in the July 25 elections compared to its 24 NA seats in 2013.
The MQM-P has become an important factor in national politics since the PTI with 116 seats in National Assembly cannot form a government on its own and lacks a simple majority in the lower house of parliament.
Tareen along with PTI leaders Arif Alvi, Firdous Shamim Naqvi and Imran Ismail reached the MQM-P’s temporary headquarters in Bahadurabad area and met with its convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.
Talks between the two parties held behind closed doors past midnight. An MQM-P source told Dawn that Tareen sought MQM-P’s help in the election of speaker, deputy speaker and leader of the house in the National Assembly and offered the party its share in the upcoming federal cabinet.
The MQM-P was not interested in a single ministry and it wanted more powers for the Karachi and Hyderabad local governments, the daily said.
Later, Tareen told the media that the PTI had invited the MQM-P to join its government at the Centre for the sake of the country. He said that both the PTI and MQM-P got mandate from Karachi and now it’s time to deliver to the people.