JUI-F's Senator Talha Mahmood joins PPP

Addressing a press conference, Talha said everyone could see the prevailing economic crisis and political situation as well as the challenges being faced by Pakistan.

“Each of us has to play a role to rescue Pakistan out of the crisis,” said the former JUI-F leader who was flanked by Nayyar Hussain Bokhari and Faisal Karim Kundi of PPP.

Talha said he had first obtained a JUI-F ticket in 2006 for a National Assembly seat and had not joined any other party since then. During the last 18 years, he told reporters, he neither received any salary nor enjoyed perks and privilege despite serving in different capacities, including as a federal minister.

He met President Asif Ali Zardari a week ago, who had invited him to join the PPP, which was the best party and option to work at the national level.

Speaking on the occasion, Bokhari welcomed Talha into the party’s ranks and mentioned that he had always played a positive role in the parliament.

Similarly, Kundi, who is the PPP information secretary, said they would work hard for strengthening the PPP in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He added that the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) was trampling upon the constitution – a reference to the provincial government’s decision to disregard Governor Ghulam Ali’s orders about convening the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly session.

The opposition parties have moved the Peshawar High Court with a plea that the SIC government in the province wants to stop the MPAs elected on the reserved seats from taking oath so that they could not cast their votes in the Senate elections scheduled for April 2.

He urged Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Speaker Babar Khan Swati to play his constitutional role and claimed that the PTI members – who are now using SIC as an umbrella after getting elected as independents in Feb 8 elections – were unhappy with the affairs.

In this connection, he predicted the formation of a forward bloc in the SIC’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter and said the PPP stood by Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir and the soldiers in their fight against terrorism.