KARACHI: The coalition of convenience between PTI and the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) remains strained due to conflicting statements from leaders of both parties.

While more PTI leaders, in retrospect, are calling the alliance a mistake, the SIC head has warned that such statements would damage Imran Khan’s party.

Now, PTI leader Walid Iqbal has also joined the likes of Sher Afzal Marwat in criticising the decision to join the SIC in a bid to secure reserved seats.

Speaking to DawnNewsTV, Mr Iqbal said it would have been “wiser” to join a party that had submitted its list of candidates for reserved seats.

This would have reduced PTI’s legal and constitutional challenges, he added.

As the party ranks grapple with the confusion, PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan said the miscommunication was caused by PTI leaders’ inability to meet Mr Khan in Adiala Jail.

Walid says any other party would’ve been ‘wiser’ choice; Hamid says recriminations ‘will hurt Imran more than anyone’

While speaking to Geo News on Sunday, he said there was “absolute clarity” in the PTI founder’s thinking regarding party policies.

“We have raised these complaints in front of the courts which have given orders [to allow PTI leaders to meet Imran], but the jail administration does not follow those orders,” he claimed.

“I am not the one to go for conspiracy theories,” he said, adding that restrictions for party leaders in meeting Mr Khan have created “a vacuum” which has been “exploited to spread confusion”.

Hamid warns against criticism

Meanwhile, SIC chief Sahibzada Hamid Raza has warned PTI leaders that their criticism of the alliance will make Imran Khan “suffer more than anyone”.

Speaking to DawnNewsTV, Mr Raza said censuring the PTI-SIC alliance in public would benefit the current government.

“Party discipline will also be compromised, and our attention will be diverted from Imran Khan’s cases,” he said.

Mr Raza added that PTI’s decision to join SIC was made by the former prime minister and conveyed to him via the party’s top leaders, including Gohar Khan, Omar Ayub Khan and Raoof Hasan.

“The purpose of joining SIC was to bring PTI candidates under one umbrella, so the plans of other parties to pressurise candidates would not be successful,” he said, adding that the target was achieved as their votes in most elections in the parliament remained secure.

Regarding Ali Zafar’s criticism of the decision, Mr Raza said it was possible that he was not present at the meeting with Mr Khan Imran when the decision was finalised, as “three different teams met Imran”.

When asked about PTI potentially wanting to get back its candidates, Raza said, “I have no issues.”

“Our settlement [with the PTI] was temporary,” the SIC chief further said.

‘PTI lost its identity’

Cashing in on the confusion within PTI, its adversaries have also chimed in, with Defence Minister Khawaja Asif saying that the party has “lost its identity”.

“Today, we don’t know if it’s PTI, Sunni Ittehad Council or the Majlis Wahadat-i-Muslimeen,” he said, while speaking to the media. “They are still trying to search for their party’s name.”

The PML-N leader pointed out that no one knew whose name the party was registered under and who is calling the shots.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2024