LAHORE: The Jahangir Khan Tareen group has gained strength and its aggressive narrative to seek ‘justice’ for the estranged Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader has brought the party’s federal as well as Punjab governments to their knees as both have invited the group for negotiations.

The Tareen group, which has swelled to over three dozen members from both the National and Punjab assemblies, posed a clear threat to the PTI governments in the province as well as at the Centre after it announced parliamentary leaders for both houses. The group had also threatened to boycott the budget sessions jeopardising the overall legitimacy of both the PTI governments.

MNA Raja Riaz has been named the group’s parliamentary leader in the National Assembly and MPA Saeed Akbar Niwani in the Punjab Assembly.

The threats worked. The group started receiving invitations from the federal as well as Punjab governments for formal meetings to allay their reservations regarding the “victimisation” of Mr Tareen as well as his group members.

A six-member delegation of the Tareen group is all set to meet Chief Minister Usman Buzdar at the CM secretariat on Friday (today) afternoon and a federal government committee on Saturday (tomorrow).

The delegation set to meet the CM comprised MPAs Nazir Chohan, Malik Nauman Ahmad Langrial, Saeed Akbar Niwani, Abdul Hayee Dasti, Ajmal Cheema and Umer Aftab.

Most of the members of the Tareen group, however, remained tight-lipped about the latest developments and one rejected outright that their plans formulated at Mr Tareen’s dinner had been frustrated. “Everything will be cleared in the Punjab Assembly on Friday,” a group member said, adding that they had been instructed not to speak about the group’s plans over the phone or even Whatsapp calls.

It is learnt that members of the Tareen group, led by Saeed Akbar Niwani, is all set to meet Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi on Friday (today) to make a formal request for allocation of separate seats in the House. The Punjab Assembly session is resuming its business after a two-day break on Friday.

A member, however, claimed that some federal ministers had contacted the group and assured them that all their reservations would be addressed, and requested that they not abstain from the budget session knowing it would be disastrous for the government.

The member said the Tareen group reserved the right to abstain from the budget session to register their protest against the alleged victimisation of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s once-close friend and diehard party leader Jahangir Tareen as well as those standing with him.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who has obvious differences with Tareen, warned that the disgruntled group should repose its complete trust in the leadership of PM Khan or they would be ousted from the party. “Those violating the party discipline may face cancellation of their membership,” he said, adding that the premier had already given them a sympathetic hearing and assured them of justice.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid also took the ‘threats’ from the Tareen group lightly, saying such groups continued forming within political parties. He said there was nothing serious and all members of the group would vote for the treasury in the budget session.

Chief Minister Buzdar has, in the meanwhile, also become active and denied any alleged victimisation of the MPAs expressing solidarity with Mr Tareen. The chief minister has met with several MPAs during the past couple of days, particularly the Tareen group members, to assure them that they would not be victimised and due share in the development package be given to their respective constituencies.

PTI Chief Whip in the Punjab Assembly Syed Abbas Ali Shah claims that he has personally arranged meetings between several members of the Tareen group and the CM, and so will be the case with the six-member delegation meeting Mr Buzdar on Friday (today).

When asked if the delegation had been invited to defuse the revolt-like situation within the party, Mr Shah said no such agenda had been shared by the delegation and added that these six members had met with the CM several times in the past few days. “They all are part of the PTI and publicly announced that they will not abstain from the budget session,” he said, questioning how they could deny the budget being prepared and announced for the people of Punjab, who elected and sent them to the assembly.

A PTI leader told Dawn that the CM had been asked to manoeuvre the political situation and ensure every member of the Tareen group was satisfied that the government had no intentions to victimise anyone.

Sources say the Tareen group has contacted the PML-N leadership and offered support if the opposition party went for a no-confidence move against CM Buzdar. The sources also claimed that the members offered to support Hamza Shehbaz for the Punjab chief minister’s slot.

However, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehabz Sharif told the media that the PML-N had nothing to do with the Tareen group and termed the hullabaloo an internal matter of the PTI.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2021