LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Parvez Elahi claimed on Sunday that his party had restarted talks with its old allies, including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P). In his statement, the former Punjab chief minister went on to claim the MQM-P was of the view there was no benefit to continuing to extend support to the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

“The Balochistan government and the GDA are also having reservations over the government’s anti-state policies,” Mr Elahi claimed. In connection with the alliance, PTI chairman Imran Khan will reveal the next strategy after summoning the meeting of all the parties, he added. Bashing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, Mr. Elahi said, “The cabinet meeting has been presided over by absconder Nawaz Sharif, which is a big joke with the nation and the institutions of the state.”

Mr. Elahi went on to claim the PDM’s tactics of delaying the elections will be thwarted. On Friday, former Punjab chief minister Parvez Elahi said on that the Supreme Court (SC) bench will not be formed at the will of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior vice president Maryam Nawaz.

Mr. Elahi called on the former Punjab Assembly lawmakers, during which he recounted his tenure – from 2002 to 2007 – as the Punjab chief minister, saying, “The international institutions highlighted the development and prosperity in Punjab during my tenure from 2002 to 2007. The global institutions declared the developing countries’ prosperity to be a role model.” He took a jibe at Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and accused him of “transforming the agricultural province [Punjab] into Ethiopia.”

In connection with the judicial reform, Mr. Elahi said, “It has been written clearly in Article 141 that the parliament cannot do legislation against the Supreme Court.”