Daily Times

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi accepted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) invitation to join the Lahore accountability rally scheduled for September 3.

Earlier, PTI chief Imran Khan has intensified political contacts in order to bring bigwigs of all opposition parties at one platform or even one container – a task deemed too difficult even by senior opposition politicians.

Imran has tasked top PTI leaders with contacting opposition leaders and inviting them to the Lahore rally. In this regard, PTI Secretary-General Jahangir Khan Tareen and Abdul Aleem Khan called on Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and invited his party leadership to join the PTI’s rally.

In their meeting with PML-Q leader Pervaiz Elahi, PTI leaders Jahangir Tareen and Abdul Aleem Khan discussed the possibility of waging a joint struggle against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to help build pressure for a probe into the Panamagate.

Nevertheless, PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain holds the view that the major problem among the opposition parties is they look only for petty personal objectives.

“The problem in formation of a grand opposition is that everyone among opposition leaders wants to become next prime minister of the country. The immediate thing needed among the opposition politicians is that they need to unite on one-point ie get Nawaz Sharif ousted from the prime minister’s slot. Once the premier is gone, then the opposition leaders may wage their campaign for the prime minister’s slot,” Shujaat said talking to Pakistan Today.

The PML-Q chief confirmed that the PTI leadership did discuss with his party the possibility to unite on one container, adding that “we will hold another follow-up meeting to discuss the pros and cons of PTI’s Lahore rally”.

PTI spokesman Naeemul Haq told journalists that Imran was pushing all of his party leaders to reach out to all opposition politicians on one-point agenda – to get justice for Pakistan’s oppressed nation by holding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif accountable in the Panamagate.

He said that other than holding fruitful meetings with the PAT and PML-Q, Shah Mahmood Qureshi would meet with PPP’s Khursheed Shah on Tuesday (today) to extend PTI’s invitation for Lahore rally.

Haq said the PTI would not only mobilise the public over the Panamagate but it was also using all available platforms, including the courts and parliament.

“We have moved a reference against the prime minister and his close family members with the Supreme Court. We also filed a reference with parliament, the Election Commission of Pakistan and also with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). We will not let this corrupt family loot and plunder the national wealth and leave the country. We will bring them to justice,” he concluded.