PTI-backed independent candidates formally join Sunni Ittehad Council

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has formally joined Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) aiming to form governments at the Centre and in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and win the reserved seats.

The announcement was made at a joint news conference by the leaders of PTI, SIC and Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen in Islamabad on Monday.

PTI leader Barrister Gohar Khan has said that party-backed independents, who emerged victorious on the National Assembly, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab assemblies’ seats, joined the Sunni Ittehad Council as a party.

The PTI leader said “Our candidates have submitted their affidavits to the party and with their consent today we are announcing that PTI-supported independents are joining the Sunni Ittehad Council.”

Gohar said the party has reached a “formal agreement” with the Sunni Ittehad Council and the same would be submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan today. “You know that there are 70 reserved seats in the National Assembly and there are 227 reserved seats in the entire country. These seats are only provided to political parties. Therefore, to protect our reserved seats and provide the cover to our members, we have reached a formal agreement under which all our candidates have joined the party and we will present this documentation before the ECP,” he said.

Gohar said a request will also be filed in the ECP regarding the allocation of reserved seats as per the party strength and law.

PTI leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that the parties had entered into alliance not only at Centre, but also in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

He said that the party had won 180 seats in the National Assembly (NA). 

On the decision announced today, the barrister said it was the result of prolonged consultations between PTI, SIC and MWM.

Speaking on the occasion, PTI General Secretary Omar Ayub Khan said the decision to join Sunni Ittehad Council was taken to get reserved seats as they were only allotted to political parties with their election symbols.

Commenting on the statement given by the ex-Rawalpindi commissioner, Liaquat Ali Chattha, Omar said that not only he had exposed the level on which the general elections were rigged but had also unmasked the faces of those individuals on whose orders, that was done.

He accused the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) of robbing the PTI of its mandate in Karachi and Hyderabad. “The seats which we had won in Karachi and Hyderabad were given to the MQM-P,” Omar alleged.

He reiterated his claim that the PTI would form governments not only in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), but also at Center and in Punjab.

MWM chief Allama Nasir Abbas and Sunni Ittehad Council head Hamid Raza Khan, on the occasion, commended the PTI for contesting and winning the elections without their election symbol of “bat”.

Both the leaders said categorically that the alliance of their parties with the PTI was ‘unconditional’.