Jailed former Pak PM Imran Khan’s party vows to form ‘grand opposition alliance’ against ruling PML-N govt

ISLAMABAD: Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has approved the formation of a "grand opposition alliance" by expanding the existing platform, Tehreek Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan, to act as a powerful anti-government movement, a senior party leader has said.

Former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser, who addressed reporters alongside the party’s secretary-general Omar Ayub Khan outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail where the 71-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician is lodged since last August, said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to expand the opposition alliance in a meeting with Imran Khan on Thursday, Geo News reported.

Qaiser announced that the former ruling party would gather all opposition parties to run a powerful anti-government movement. He said that the party’s forthcoming power show in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swabi was aimed at raising a “strong voice” for the release of the PTI founder and other detained leaders.

“This country will only be governed in accordance with the law and the Constitution,” Qaiser emphasised.

During his address, Qaiser also rebuked the incumbent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led coalition government over skyrocketing power bills. He said the bloated electricity bills were “unacceptable” for the inflation-hit masses.

The PTI leader also said that they support Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) sit-in — underway on Rawalpindi’s Murree Road since July 26 — against the massive hike in power bills.

However, JI Emir Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman has said that his party would not become part of the PTI proposed grand alliance as history suggests that the opposition parties use such platforms for self-interest.

“We will have the same stance as the opposition parties on some issues and hold meetings with them, but we will not become part of any alliance,” Naeem said on Thursday.

Ayub, while addressing the same press conference, appealed to the masses to attend the public gathering in Swabi on August 5 in large numbers from across the country to show solidarity with the former premier.

Responding to criticism against the PTI founder for demanding negotiations with the Pakistan Army, Ayub said that they did not hold any discussion regarding the dialogue, however, he added that Khan made it clear that the military belongs to the nation and vice versa.

He further said that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) were trying to drive a wedge between the military and the nation.

Commenting on the cases against the jailed ex-prime minister, the opposition leader said that they were fighting a legal battle for Khan’s release. Ayub blamed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for stopping the release of former first lady Bushra Bibi despite having no connections with the Toshakhana corruption case.

The PTI secretary general demanded Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq to recuse themselves from hearing the PTI founder’s cases, Geo News reported.

The PTI believes he is being arrested in more cases at the behest of the powerful military establishment to make sure that he does not come out of jail.

Khan was first arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a 190-million-pound corruption case. He faces over 200 cases and has been in jail since August last year.