Pakistan: Conundrum Continues Over Govt Formation, PPP Announces Support To PML-N

Jailed former Pakistan PM has dismissed the idea of forming a coalition government with any of the main political parties.

According to Geo News report, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has announced that he was withdrawing from the candidacy for prime minister's post as "the PPP doesn't have the mandate to form the federal government".

"It is a fact that the PPP does not have a mandate to form the federal government and due to that I will not be putting myself forward for the candidacy of the prime minister of Pakistan," he was quoted as saying.

He as per the report also said the PTI and PML-N have more numbers than his party in the National Assembly, but since the former has announced that they would not engage in any dialogue with the PPP, there is no possibility of a PTI or independents-led government in the country.

He has also said “as the PPP is not in a position to form the government in the Centre, it would not be interested in taking federal ministries in the setup.”

"We don’t want to see chaos in the country or perpetual crisis in the country," he was quoted as saying.

Earlier, PTI had claimed that the former ruling party, upon directions of its founder Imran Khan, will join hands with Majlis-e-Wahdat-Muslimeen (MWM) to form its governments in Centre and Punjab.

PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan had ruled ruling out the prospects of any talks with the PML-N, PPP and MQM-P.

Hasan said he was directed by Imran Khan to form a coalition with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) over reserved seats.

The 71-year-old Khan was speaking with journalists at the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

Khan and many of his party colleagues are lodged in jail for many months in connection with convictions in multiple cases.

In the February 8 general elections, independent candidates, mostly backed by Khan's PTI, won 101 seats in the 266-member National Assembly, another former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's party (PML-N) won 75 seats and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's party (PPP) won 54 seats.

A coalition government appears inevitable as no single party has got the majority in the National Assembly and Pakistan stares at a hung Parliament. Negotiations between Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have been going on for two days. Independents became an easy target.

Khan said there would be no talk with the PML-N, the PPP, and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) but expressed willingness to contact all other parties and groups.

Khan also alleged that elections were rigged and said it would increase instability in the country and negatively impact the economy.

He kept saying that free and transparent elections were the only solution.

“Such electoral fraud never happened in the history of the country,”Khan said.

“Attempts are being made to bring down the money laundering syndicate to power. The Sharif family is the biggest money launderer of the country,” he alleged and added that the country's biggest problem was dollars and alleged that the Sharif family would send dollars abroad.

“Those who have been brought [to rule] are the biggest money launderers,” Khan was quoted as by Geo News saying.

The PTI founder further claimed that both Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz lost the elections and said, “We are the first to challenge the election results. We will also approach the Supreme Court against the election results.”