Daily Times

A day before the inaugural session of the newly elected National Assembly, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday reached out to its political rivals to seek their support in running the affairs of the government.

A PTI delegation met outgoing National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to invite the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to Imran Khan’s oath taking ceremony.

Speaking to media after the meeting, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said the prime minister-in-waiting has vowed to remove all reservations of the opposition parties in line with his vision of taking them in the loop over a number of issues.

The PTI delegation included Khyber Pakhtunkhwa former chief minister Pervez Khattak, party nominee for NA speaker slot Asad Qaiser and Umar Ayub. Chaudhry stressed the need for forging unity among political parties which, he said, is essential to tackle many challenges facing the country. He praised the opposition’s decision not to boycott parliament over alleged rigging in the general election.

The outgoing NA speaker in his remarks said the delegation met him to invite his party’s parliamentary leaders to attend the PM’s inauguration. He said the newly elected government desired to run the House with cooperation of the opposition.

Asad Qaiser, who has been nominated as PTI’s candidate for the NA speaker slot, said the meeting took place in a cordial atmosphere. He said PTI wanted to have amiable relations with all the political parties in parliament. Meanwhile, a PTI delegation also met Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Khursheed Shah and sought his party’s cooperation in election for the posts of speaker and deputy speaker in the National Assembly. PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry said that he has asked Shah to withdraw from the race in favour of PTI’s candidate Asad Qaiser for NA speaker’s slot. Shah was nominated by the joint opposition for speaker.

Published in Daily Times, August 13^th 2018.