PTI to sit on opposition benches in Centre, Punjab

A delegation of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led by former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser met Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) chief Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, the 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Friday.

Barrister Saif, and Shaukat Yousafzai were part of the PTI team while QWP leaders Ahmad Nawaz Jadoon, Hashim Babar and Sikandar Hayat Khan were also present in the meeting. Aftab Sherpao welcomed the PTI delegation.

During the meeting, election results and the ongoing political situation came under discussion. The visiting delegation conveyed the message of THE PTI founder to Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao who too showed reservations about the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa election results.

After the meeting, PTI leader Barrister Saif told the media that the PTI has decided to sit on the opposition benches in the National Assembly and Punjab Assembly.

"Many politicians face the allegations that they have power lust but we have decided to sit in the opposition in the Centre and Punjab, though we have seas to form the government in the Centre," he said.

Saif added that the Form-45s were the evidence that the PTI-backed candidates had won but the results were changed in the Form-47s. He said the party was making contacts with political parties on Khan's orders, and that is why a delegation led by Asad Qaiser visited the QWP secretariat.

Saif said that some people would be cheering that they have got to form the government, but this celebration would be short-lived.
“If we see this in the long term, this is a huge problem for the nation, the country and the parliamentary democracy in Pakistan because the coming generations have to bear the brunt of such incidents,” the lawyer-turned-politician said while referring to the alleged rigging in polls.
He said that PTI wants "harmony and an environment of reconciliation" in the country.

Sharing the details about the meeting with QWP, Saif said that the PTI requested the party leaders to join it on the agenda to protest over the rigging.
At this, QWP leader Sikandar Sherpao told PTI that they would announce their course of action after sharing PTI’s proposal with the party's committee.
Pakistan staged the biggest election of its history on February 8, which was extraordinary in various aspects. However, the outcome of the polls did not turn out to be as expected by the political actors as none of them got a simple majority.

While the PTI-affiliated independent candidates dominated the election results, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) claimed to have enough numbers to form the government as some independents joined the Nawaz Sharif-led party post-polls.
However, maintaining its stance of having the majority, the PTI also alleges that the polls were "not free and fair" and plans to stage peaceful protests against the alleged rigging countrywide.

Earlier, the PTI-backed independent candidates held a joint press conference, which established that the February 8 general election had set new records of rigging.
Despite having the largest number of successful candidates in the general polls, the Khan-founded PTI disapproved of the poll results, saying that the 2024 elections would be remembered in the country's history due to the scale of rigging.