ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has backtracked from its promiseto the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-S) as it decided to shun its support toJUI-S chief Samiul Haq in the coming Senate elections.
The exclusion of the name of JUI-S chief from the list of PTI’s Senatecandidates from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has left many wondering. The JUI-Schief’s name was absent from the list of the PTI candidates for the Senateseats that included Faisal Javed Khan, Azam Swati, Dr Mehar Taj Roghani,Khayal Zaman, Fida Hussain and Ayub Afridi.
The move also leaves a question mark on an electoral alliance the PTI andthe JUI-S had agreed on last year. The two parties had agreed to formulatea ‘joint strategy’ for the next general elections.
JUI-S spokesperson Maulana Yusuf Shah was clueless about the PTI decision,reported the publication.
“We will hold a meeting of our Majlis-e-Shura on the decision. The PTI hadpromised us a Senate seat [for Maulana Samiul Haq],” the publication quotedthe spokesperson as saying.
He said that the JUI-S and the PTI had decided to contest the generalelections from a single platform, adding that the modalities ofseat-to-seat adjustments between the two parties had to be worked out.
“We had not asked [PTI] for a [Senate] seat, it came from their side,” theJUI-S spokesperson told the outlet.
Senate elections are scheduled to be held in March after the ElectionCommission of Pakistan had issued a schedule last week.