Tareen group ditches Elahi, extends support to opposition camp

Islamabad, April 3 : In Pakistan the disgruntled PTI group led by Jahangir Tareen, despite holding late-night negotiations with the Elahis of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q), decided to throw their weight behind the opposition camp, Dawn reported on Sunday. PML-Q leaders, led by the speaker Pervez Elahi’s son, Moonis Elahi, held meetings with members of the Jahangir Tareen group until around 2.30am on Saturday to iron out the terms of their offer. Moonis Elahi said former Punjab minister Nauman Langrial told him late in the night that 12 out of 17 members had agreed to support Parvez Elahi, while also assuring him that he would convince the remaining five members to do the same. Moonis Elahi also said that he had personally contacted three members of the Tareen group – Abdul Hayee Dasti, Rafaqat Ali Gillani and Ameer Mohammad Khan and won their support, who later met Parvez Elahi at his Punjab Assembly chamber. PTI dissident and former senior minister Aleem Khan also showed the support of nine MPAs to PML-N’s CM candidate Hamza Shehbaz but Moonis Elahi claimed some of them would express their explicit support for him. But former finance minister Ishaq Dar trough a tweet clarified the change in the whole scenario. “Had fruitful final round of discussion with Jahangir Khan Tareen and it was agreed that the Tareen group would support joint opposition’s candidate Hamza Shehbaz Sharif for the slot of chief minister,” Dar tweeted. ACL1026