Pagara, Tareen slam PTI govt on treating them ‘unfairly’

KARACHI: Both Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PMLF) chief Pir Pagara and estranged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Khan Tareen, in their meeting on Thursday, expressed their reservations over their treatment at the hands of PTI government.

Sources said Pir Pagara complained about the government’s efforts to woo members of his party to join the PTI. Tareen, on the other hand, was of the view that the government was bent upon making Member of Punjab Assembly (MPA) Nazir Ahmad Chauhan a rebel. He made it clear that he had no separate group and that whatever allegations had been levelled against him were merely propaganda.

Tareen said the arrest of Chauhan by the FIA had made members of his group feel concerned. “I have remained loyal to the party all these years. But sadly I was targeted,” he regretted.

Pagara regretted that despite the fact that PMLF was supporting the government unconditionally but still the latter was trying to trigger defections in his party. Around 300 of my devotees were booked in different cases when Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Sindh Affairs Arbab Ghulam Rahim was running his election campaign. And they are still facing these cases, he said.

PMLF chief said that if the PTI was dying to create dents in its allied parties it should have better waited for the next general elections. He said he had conveyed to the government his party’s concerns. “I have told Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi how we are feeling after the recent steps taken by the PTI,” Pagara added. Both leaders on the occasion decided to keep meeting each other in future as well.