Qureshi terms Tareen’s party ‘dead on arrival’

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday dismissed Jahangir Tareen’s newly-launched Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) as “received dead on arrival”. He said the party was like a patient pronounced “received dead on arrival” in the emergency ward of a hospital.

Talking about the budget, Qureshi said the interim government would have to revise it as the term of the current parliament ends on August 12. He said the middle class did not get any relief in the budget. It is good the government increased the salaries of government employees, but “I am worried from where money will come for this increase”. He showed his reservations on the budget, saying that it would be amended from time to time.

Earlier, an anti-terrorism court granted interim bail till June 27 to Shah Mahmood Qureshi in three cases registered against him after the May 9 protests. Qureshi also secured bail from a sessions court in a case of provocative speech till June 27. The court directed Qureshi to join the investigations. Later, Shah Mahmood Qureshi once again met party chief Imran Khan, sources said, after their first meeting ended in bitterness. It was Qureshi’s second meeting with the PTI chairman since his release last week. The ex-foreign minister in the last meeting suggested his leader retreat for the time being, go abroad, or at least maintain silence if he didn’t want to leave the country.

PTI has been feeling the heat of the state’s might in the light of May 9 violent protests as enraged party workers attacked military installations, including the Lahore corps commander’s house and the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi following the PTI chief’s arrest.

Scores of party workers and leaders were arrested during the crackdown. As a result, numerous workers and leaders parted ways with their leader, which caused rapid disintegration of the party and growing pressure on the cricketer-turned-politician. In the last meeting, the two had also exchanged heated words, with the former premier expressing anger at Qureshi, the sources had said. However, the two have met again and discussed efforts to release the incarcerated workers. The sources said the PTI leaders also discussed the current political scenario.