PM Imran Khan forms three panels to liaise with annoyed allies

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday formed three committees of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to stay in touch with the government’s allied parties and to bridge the communication gap.

Prior this development, Prime Minister Imran Khan presided over a meeting on the issues, mostly raised in recent days and weeks, by the PTI’s coalition partners at the federal and provincial levels. A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s office said that a meeting was held under the chairmanship of prime minister here, which discussed in detail the process of PTI’s engagement with its allies. The prime minister felt that this process needed to be strengthened and formalised so that there were no gaps in communication between all the allies, forming the government.

To ensure this, the prime minister ordered the formation of a number of committees under the chairmanship of Minister of Defence Pervaiz Khattak, who previously was chief minister in the PTI-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The committee tasked to liaise with MQM and GDA includes Asad Umar (convener), Imran Ismail, Firdous Shamim Naqvi and Haleem Adil Sheikh as its members.

Similarly, the committee to coordinate with PML-Q includes Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar (convener), Sardar Usman Buzdar (Chief Minister Punjab) and Shafqat Mahmood (federal minister). Likewise, Pervaiz Khattak (convener), Qasim Suri (NA deputy speaker) and Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali will hold talks with Balochistan-based BAP, BNP, and JWP.