• Shehbaz Sharif withdraws papers from Karachi constituency
• MQM-P announces candidates on 19 of city’s 22 NA seats

ISLAMABAD / KARACHI: An ambitious seats adjustment deal between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) does not work out as both sides have decided to field their respective candidates on all National Assembly seats in Sindh and Punjab for the Feb 8 general election, it emerged on Friday.

The break-up of the understanding came to the fore when, after long negotiations, both sides could not agree to finalise a unanimous candidate on a Karachi NA constituency (NA-242), from where PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif had filed nomination papers, but MQM-P’s senior deputy convener Mustafa Kamal was also adamant to contest the election from the same seat.

Finally, the younger Sharif withdrew his nomination papers from the NA-242 constituency on Friday.

Although, both sides have so far made no official announcement regarding their much talked-about political deal, sources in the two parties said it’s almost over.

Many attempts were made to contact senior leadership of the MQM-P, but they were not available for comments.

According to a list of candidates for NA seats issued by the MQM-P, Mr Kamal will contest polls from NA-242 (Keamari) against PML-N’s Khawaja Shoaib and others.

The Punjab chapter of the MQM-P on Thursday issued a list of its candidates for the NA and Punjab Assembly seats, fielding its candidates against top leaders of the PML-N.

According to the list, the party has issued tickets to its candidates for 26 NA and 11 PA seats.

Talking to Dawn, MQM-P leader Zahid Mehmood said the agreement between his party and PML-N could not work as the latter was not ready to accept his party’s demand. “The PML-N was not ready to give, but to take,” he added.

He said that when the PML-N had asked for NA-242 seat for Shehbaz Sharif, the MQM-P also wanted to get accommodated its candidate Kiran Ali from NA-119, a constituency from where Maryam Nawaz was contesting.

He said as Maryam was already contesting from NA-120, the MQM-P had asked for NA-119 for its candidate, but their plea was turned down by the PML-N.

According to the list issued by MQM-P, Ms Kiran is still in the field from NA-119.

Meanwhile, the MQM-P on Friday announced its candidates for Karachi’s 19 of the 22 NA seats and 39 of the total 47 PA seats.

The announcement came amid much speculation about cracks within its ranks.

Senior party leader Khawaj Izharul Hasan told a private news channel that there was a disagreement among senior leadership over distribution of party tickets and the situation had turned so serious that it led to an altercation during a meeting called to finalise names of candidates.

He claimed that ‘merit’ was ignored by the party leaders while selecting candidates for the Feb 8 elections. Later, the list issued by the party also contained his name as he was given a party ticket from NA-247.

According to the list, Dr Fouzia Hameed has been given ticket from NA-229, Aasia Ishaq from NA-232, Javed Hanif from NA-233, Amir Moin Pirzada from NA-234, Iqbal Mahsud from NA-235, Hassan Sabir from NA-236, Rauf Siddiqi from NA-237, Sadiq Iftikhar from NA-238, Arshad Vohra from NA-240, Dr Farooq Sattar from NA-241, Mustafa Kamal from NA-242, Humayun Usman Khan from NA-243, Dr Farooq Sattar from NA-244, Hafeezuddin from NA-245, Aminul Haq from NA-246, Khawaja Izhar from NA-247, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui NA-248, Ahmed Saleem Siddiqui from NA-249 and Farhan Chishti has been given ticket from NA-250.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2024