Target achieved: Tareen group defanged

ISLAMABAD: All the federal and Punjab legislators of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), once associated with the Jahangir Tareen group, have either openly slipped away or quietly distanced themselves from it or given up their once “rebellious” activities.

Since their “supreme leader” has got relief in the cases instituted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after his commitment and assurance, which he fulfilled, that his members would support the federal and Punjab governments in the passage of their annual budgets, he has not embarked upon any move to demonstrate that his squad continues to be alive or vibrant.

After the rapprochement was reached, the FIA, which was vigorously pursuing the cases against Tareen, told the concerned court that it was no longer interested in arresting him. This assurance was apparently a part of the deal.

Owing to open desertions, silent dissociation or nonchalance of its members, the group has lost the ominous clout that it once possessed, threatening the federal and Punjab governments, which could not survive without their support due to the thin majority in the two legislatures.

Although a formal obituary is yet to be read, the group has been largely defanged. However, there is a likelihood that it may emerge on the eve of the next general elections when the fresh electoral alignments will take place and turncoats jump from one political party to another. A question that is oftentimes raised is whether after so much publicly aired bitterness, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Tareen will work together once again with the same old coordination and collaboration in the future parliamentary polls that was witnessed in the 2018 general elections and which had produced wonders for the PTI. The wherewithal provided by Tareen had contributed a lot to this achievement.

The group, if it can be still called so, has become so inconsequential that there is no reference or talk about it in the public debate anywhere. If it is continuing its activities at any level, it is not in the public domain as none of its members wants to propagate them or has nothing to say about them.

Ostensibly, the primary objective of the creation of the cluster and the hype spawned over its activities by its members was to seek or squeeze “justice” for Tareen, meaning slowing down of his accountability to a pace where it becomes immaterial and irrelevant. For all the purposes and intents, this goal has been accomplished - no state agency is pursuing any case against him.

Nazir Akhtar Chohan, a member of the Punjab Assembly (MPA), who was a most outspoken partner of the Tareen group, was the first one to ditch and dent the faction when he not only left it and swore allegiance to Prime Minister Imran Khan and PTI, but also bashed Tareen, hurling serious allegations over him.

He became transformed after a couple of weeks’ detention for leveling wild accusations against a prime ministerial adviser.

There was a time when he, after the registration of this case, had gone to the police station daring the police to arrest him. But when the time changed fast after Tareen’s cases became dormant, police caught hold of him. He was annoyed with Tareen or other members of the group as he was not extended any help when he was locked up.

Now another MPA from Multan and a member of the Tareen group Salman Naeem, who had defeated Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in 2018 elections, has changed his mind as he met Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

He had been publicly supporting Tareen. Yet another Tareen group member, Khurram Leghari, elected from Muzaffargarh, has left the faction and assured support to the PTI after meeting Buzdar. A few months back he had rebelled against the chief minister and joined the Tareen cluster. He had also resigned as adviser to the chief minister and a member of the price control committee because of the alleged non-cooperation of the bureaucracy.

Last month, he was booked by the Lahore police on charges of giving death threats to a woman, who alleged that he had been threatening to kill her in his bid to force her to establish relations with him. He stood tamed after the two parties settled their dispute. Chohan’s arrest had apparently served as a warning to Leghari that impelled him to say goodbye to the Tareen group and become associated with the PTI.

Another three members of the Tareen group including Noman Langrial, Abdul Haye Dasti and Khawaja Daud Sulemani have come back to the mainstream PTI as they held a session with Buzdar.

Tareen group members continue to meet the chief minister, marking their return to the PTI and abandoning their estranged leader. Tareen has maintained a total silence on this state of affairs, apparently because he doesn’t want to affect the arrangement that led to provision of relief to him from criminal cases.

With the group having vanished from the public gaze, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has made efforts to lure its members on the premise that they are electables, who have a good personal say in their respective constituencies. However, it has not succeeded so far. It is keen to get a maximum number of winnables particularly in Punjab while it has no such plan in Sindh.

There is no known move or public statement from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), demonstrating its enthusiasm to take the constituents of the Tareen group in its fold for the next general elections although all of them hail from Punjab.