Imran Khan's party to sit in Opposition in Pakistan's Parliament; to protest against poll rigging

Jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to sit in the Opposition in Parliament while launching a countrywide protest against alleged rigging in the elections after its efforts to form the next government failed.

Jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to sit in the Opposition in Parliament while launching a countrywide protest against alleged rigging in the elections after its efforts to form the next government failed.

The major political parties in Pakistan have stepped up efforts to form a federal government after the February 8 elections delivered a split verdict.

While Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party-backed 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.

PTI leader Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif announced on February 16 that following the instructions of PTI founder Khan, the party has decided to sit in the Opposition both at the Centre and in the key province of Punjab.

The decision came a day after the party had named Umar Ayub Khan as its candidate for the Prime Minister and Aslam Iqbal as Chief Minister for Punjab.

Talking to the media on Friday night [February 16] after visiting the Qaumi Watan Party in Islamabad, Mr. Saif said that the party decided to sit in the Opposition in the Centre and Punjab under the instructions of party founder Khan.

“We decided to sit in Opposition despite the reality that if we received seats according to our votes and the results were not changed then maybe today we might have been in the Centre with 180 seats. We have the evidence that our candidates won,” he said.