PTI ‘welcomes’ former MQM leader Saleem Shahzad

ISLAMABAD (Monitoring Desk): Former Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Saleem Shahzad met Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairperson Imran Khan at his Bani Gala residence on Tuesday, sparking talk on social media of the Karachi-based politician joining hands with PTI.

There was no official word from Shahzad regarding the meeting or his future political plans, but PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry tweeted a photo of the two leaders, saying “PTI welcomes #SaleemShahzad”.

An official statement released by the PTI, however, did not elaborate on whether Shahzad would form an electoral alliance with the PTI in Karachi.

The PTI statement said the two leaders exchanged views on the political situation of the country, and resolved to work towards progress in Karachi.

Last month, Shahzad—who was a senior leader in the MQM and a close aide of the party’s founder—announced that he was forming a his own political party.

Shahzad said that he would contest general elections in 2018 from Karachi’s Orangi Town under the banner of his new political party, and that he would field candidates in different constituencies of the city.

The former MQM leader said that no “China-cutters or target killers” would be allowed to join his party. “There will be no dry-cleaning in our party either,” he had claimed.

But Shahzad has himself run into problems with the law in the past. The former MQM leader, who had been living in London since 1992, was wanted by the Karachi police for various cases against him.

He was arrested upon arrival at the Karachi airport from Dubai on February 6, and was later released from prison on June 2.

He was charged with around two dozen cases, the most prominent one involving allegations of arranging shelter for and facilitating medical treatment of terrorists, gangsters and activists of banned outfits at former minister Dr Asim Hussain’s Ziauddin hospitals in Karachi.