KARACHI, Dec 24: Pakistan Muslim League-N’s senior leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi joined the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf on Saturday.

Mr Hashmi made the decision public at a press conference, where he was flanked by PTI chairman Imran Khan and vice chairman Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

The veteran politician said he had no differences with the PML-N leadership, adding that he had decided to join PTI because its ideology was close to “my own ideology”.

“I was considering joining the Tehrik-i-Insaf for some time and finally took the decision to save Pakistan. My daughter Mona Hashmi, an MNA elected on a PML-N ticket, will also resign her seat and join PTI,” Mr Hashmi said.

“Imran Khan is the only champion of politics in Pakistan. We want a Pakistan where every life is safe,” he said, adding that he was the first person to ask politicians to declare their assets.

Former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Mr Hashmi’s decision was an indication that a new era was about to begin in the country.

The tsunami in Sindh started from Ghotki and its second phase would take place in February.

He said the statement of Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani quashing speculation of any military takeover augured well for democracy, adding that it reflected “new thinking on the Army’s part”.

Similarly, he added, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s reassurance that the days of validation by the judiciary of military takeovers were gone had left no room for anyone to take extra-constitutional measures.

Mr Qureshi, who was a central leader of the PPP, said the government was in the ditch because of its bad performance.

“Corruption is at its peak and people are fed up with the government and now want a change, which has become inevitable.”

Imran Khan described Mr Hashmi as an asset for his party and said he and Shah Mehmood Qureshi would strengthen the party.

When asked that the establishment had never allowed any democratic government to complete its term and would his government, if formed, face the same fate, the PTI chief said if his party’s government performed conspiracies would automatically come to an end, and if his government failed to deliver he would quit.

He said his party would not allow the Election Commission to conduct the next general elections on the basis of present electoral list, adding that there were 37 million bogus votes in the list and any election conducted on the basis of it would be a ‘fraud election’ and “we will not allow this to happen”.

When asked if his party was voted to power who would be its candidate for the office of prime minister, Mr Khan said his party would nominate anyone considered to be competent for the office. However, he said, he was sure that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani would not be there to face the tsunami.

When asked if there was any understanding between the PTI and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement as there were reports that Mr Qureshi and Mr Hashmi had contributed to making the MQM rally a success in Multan in lieu of mustering support for the PTI rally in Karachi, Imran Khan said every political party had the right to hold public meetings anywhere in the country and people were at liberty to attend any rally they liked.

He said if MQM supporters came to his rally they were welcome and asked the media not to try to pit the PTI against the MQM.

He said the Karachi public meeting would play an important role in uniting the people to get rid of obsolete system and bring change in the country.

PUBLIC MEETING: Imran Khan, who arrived in Karachi on Thursday, would address his party’s first-ever grand public rally on Sunday at a ground adjacent to the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

He held a meeting with members of the Pakistan Business Council, which represents bankers, insurance companies and multi-national institutions.

He attended a lunch at a restaurant in Clifton where he exchanged views with senior media personnel and women representing civil society.

In the evening, the PTI chief held a meeting with members of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry who discussed with the economic condition and difficulties being faced by them because of gas and electricity loadshedding and the law and order situation.