Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said that Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan (MQM-P) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) could form an electoral alliance in future. He also praised the MQM-P ministers in his cabinet, including Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Farogh Nasim. PM said that the MQM-P people were really well-mannered and that their performance in the relevant ministries had been exemplary.
The PTI supporters found it difficult to defend their leader’s such open praise for a party that they have been criticising for many years. Imran Khan has been one of the fiercest critics of MQM’s political tactics. The latter barred him from entering Karachi in 2007 when the animosity was at its peak.
However, Imran Khan, in 2011, had stated that he believed MQM to be one of PTI’s natural allies because of their middle-class routes and aversion to feudal politics. However, after 2013 elections, PTI not only alleged MQM of rigging the elections in Karachi but also accused them of murdering a senior party member Zehra Shahid. PTI staged a long sit-in at Teen Talwaar in Karachi against the rigging.
However, in 2017, the two parties came closer in an attempt to dislodge Pakistan People’s Party’s Khursheed Shah from his position as Opposition Leader in National Assembly. The move failed but somehow paved the way for cooperation between the two parties in the post-2018 General Election scenario when MQM-P supported Imran Khan’s candidature for premiership. MQM-P also joined PM Khan’s cabinet and now as the government faces a deepening economic crises, MQM-P has not only stood firm with PTI so far but has also discussed the prospects of a future alliance between the two parties.
The PTI supporters found it difficult to defend their leader’s such open praise for a party that they have been criticising for many years. Imran Khan has been one of the fiercest critics of MQM’s political tactics. The latter barred him from entering Karachi in 2007 when the animosity was at its peak.
However, Imran Khan, in 2011, had stated that he believed MQM to be one of PTI’s natural allies because of their middle-class routes and aversion to feudal politics. However, after 2013 elections, PTI not only alleged MQM of rigging the elections in Karachi but also accused them of murdering a senior party member Zehra Shahid. PTI staged a long sit-in at Teen Talwaar in Karachi against the rigging.
However, in 2017, the two parties came closer in an attempt to dislodge Pakistan People’s Party’s Khursheed Shah from his position as Opposition Leader in National Assembly. The move failed but somehow paved the way for cooperation between the two parties in the post-2018 General Election scenario when MQM-P supported Imran Khan’s candidature for premiership. MQM-P also joined PM Khan’s cabinet and now as the government faces a deepening economic crises, MQM-P has not only stood firm with PTI so far but has also discussed the prospects of a future alliance between the two parties.