PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) Central Senior Vice President Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has raised concerns over the “unprecedented uncertainty” prevailing in the country ahead of the February 8 elections, which he said was never seen before.
Ostensibly, the comments came echoing Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s fear that he expressed a day ago that he did not foresee the February 8 elections happening as the country’s security situation was not suitable for polls.
Maulana Fazl’s convoy came under attack from multiple sides at Yarik interchange in Dera Ismail Khan on December 31, luckily, the JUI-F chief was not present in the vehicles at the time.
Fazl has been constantly calling on the interim government and the election commission to ensure the law and order situation. He also stressed that it wasn’t the right time to be holding the polls.
Talking to Geo News in Peshawar, Hoti said his party would decide about forging an alliance with political parties in the general elections by January 13. To a query, he said the ANP could enter into an alliance with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) if democracy was the focus of the agenda.
“The PTI should tell on what agenda it wants to make an alliance with us. We cannot support the May 9 agenda,” the ANP leader said pointing towards the violent incidents of May 9, 2023, that unfolded following the arrest of PTI founder Imran Khan in a corruption case.
Citing the PTI’s consistent demand for a level-playing field, he said they were not even provided a field in the general elections of 2013 and 2018. All the favours were extended to the PTI in those elections, he maintained.
Hoti said the convicts and accused should not be allowed to participate in elections.
He predicted that no single party would make government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the centre. Coalition governments would be formed in KP and the centre, the ANP leader added.
On December 26, Hoti had expressed fears that snatching of his party’s electoral symbol was also being pondered in a balancing act to prove another judgment right.
