The joint opposition’s candidate for president Maulana Fazlur Rahman held meetings in Karachi on Wednesday with leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-Pakistan) and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA).
Fazl, who heads his faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), visited the residence of GDA head Pir Pagara Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi. Afterwards, he was scheduled to visit the Bahadurabad head office of the MQM-Pakistan to meet Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and other MQM leaders.
The JUI-F chief is the joint candidate of opposition parties, except Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for the presidential election. PPP has fielded former senator Aitzaz Ahsan for the election.
Earlier on Monday, Fazl made a last ditch effort to convince PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to withdraw Ahsan’s candidacy and join the rest of the opposition parties against the ruling party’s candidate Dr Arif Alvi. However, the PPP decided to not withdraw its presidential candidate.
Published in Daily Times, August 30th 2018.