Jahangir Tareen group mulls forming new party ahead of polls

• Proposal for new party put forth during Iftar dinner by Tareen. 
• Group also plans on considering alliances with other parties.
• Some members suggest contesting polls on PML-N tickets .

LAHORE: A splinter group of former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) leaders has proposed forming a new political party named 'Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Nazriyati (PTIN) or Haqeeqi Tehreek-e-Insaaf (HTI) to contest the upcoming elections, The News reported Tuesday.

Members of the Jahangir Khan Tareen (JKT) Group put forth a proposal during an Iftar dinner which was attended by several members of the dissident PTI groups and leaders including Raja Riaz and Awn Chaudhry.

The Tareen group is mulling over the proposal and it has not finalised its plan as of yet. Moreover, the group also plans on holding discussions in the future and considering alliances with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q). 

The JKT group is becoming increasingly active in politics and plans to contact more former PTI members and leaders to join their cause. 

Participants in the meeting expressed dissatisfaction with former prime minister Imran Khan’s policies and a desire to distance themselves from his politics. Further consultations and monitoring of the country’s politics will also be held.

Tareen was once a close confidant of Khan but formed his group within the PTI. The News sent text messages to the estranged PTI leader about the progress made but received no response.

Riaz, who leads the opposition in the National Assembly, replied that he was occupied with a meeting. However, Imran Shahid, JKT’s political secretary, verified that an iftar-dinner had taken place.

When asked about their future political strategy, Shahid stated that the group would inform the media when there were any updates on this matter. 

Some other sources, requesting anonymity, informed The News, that the majority of the Tareen group suggested forming an independent group or a party named Haqeeqi Tehreek-e-Insaaf rather than contesting the next elections on PML-N tickets.

Sources said a majority of the group has supported the idea of contesting the polls in an independent capacity. They stated that most members cited the example of July 2022 by-polls in which contesting on the ticket of PML-N proved damaging and most of the members lost the polls. 

Besides, some members also said that already, in many constituencies, such as those falling in Faisalabad, Lodhran, PML-N has their ticket holders and it is quite unlikely that the Tareen group would get tickets there. They suggested the idea was to contest the polls as an independent candidate or under the banner of a new party to be headed by Jehangir Khan Tareen.

Some members suggested contesting polls on the ticket of PML-N as still, it is a party with strong roots in Punjab. Tareen was empowered to make any decision in this regard.