Tag: Raja Riaz

  • PML-N supporter, PTI dissident leader Raja Riaz becomes opposition leader to PML-N led govt

    PML-N supporter, PTI dissident leader Raja Riaz becomes opposition leader to PML-N led govt

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) dissident leader Raja Riaz Ahmad has become the Leader of the Opposition in the lower house of Parliament, with the support of 16 lawmakers, following the withdrawal of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q)’s Moonis Elahi.

    Speaker National Assembly (NA) Raja Pervaiz Ashraf issued notification of Riaz as being elected as the Opposition leader.

    Earlier, Moonis Elahi withdrew his candidature as the Opposition leader, paving the way for a one-on-one contest between Ghous Bakhsh Mahar and Riaz.

    In 2016, Raja Riaz quit the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) after he decided to join PTI.

    Riaz, who switched sides from PTI during the vote of no-confidence against the then Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, had previously announced that he would contest the next general election on the ticket of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

    The Opposition leader’s seat fell vacant after Shehbaz Sharif was elected prime minister following the ouster of Imran Khan through a no-confidence motion vote.

  • Are Jahangir Tareen and Imran Khan back together?

    Are Jahangir Tareen and Imran Khan back together?

    Following the sugar inquiry commission report last year, the friendship between Jahangir Khan Tareen (JKT) and Imran Khan ended, with JKT leaving for London and then later returning. Although Imran Khan has not publicly talked about his relationship with his old friend and former Secretary General of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), it seems like they are calling each other again and are about to meet up.

    PTI MNA Raja Riaz, who is part of what is called the ‘Jahangir Tareen group’, has revealed that the two ex-friends had spoken to each other.

    Raja Riaz told Geo News that the JKT group was going to meet for iftar today (Wednesday) but it was postponed after they were told they were going to be meeting with the PM, and their issues would be resolved during that meeting. Riaz also said that it wasn’t confirmed whether JKT would be attending. “An iftar dinner scheduled to be held at Tareen’s residence has been postponed after we were told the prime minister will meet the PTI lawmakers.”

    “We are confident that most of the issues will be resolved during the meeting,” he said.

    There was confusion over whether JKT would be meeting the PM as well (along with the group of PTI lawmakers known as the JKT group), but JKT told the Express Tribune, “We have been assured that the premier is ready to meet us. However, [I want to make it clear that] we will only meet the prime minister and not a governmental committee…during the meeting, we will present our grievances with regard to the sugar inquiry commission and the FIA’s [Federal Investigation Agency] cases [filed against the JDW group owned by Tareen].”

    Raja Riaz also said on Shahzeb Khanzada’s programme that they are of the view that JKT was being unfairly targeted and he said that “hopefully we will get a big relief when the prime minister comes to know about the facts.”

    Last week, more than 30 lawmakers were known to have sided with JKT, some that were willing to resign, and had met with JKT in the public showing up at a dinner at JKT’s place in Lahore. After the public show of support by the PTI lawmakers, PM Khan had contacted JKT.

  • PTI leader asks PM to bring Tareen back ahead of Senate polls

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Raja Riaz has asked the prime minister to make estranged PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen the chairman of the committee formed to choose candidates for the upcoming Senate elections.

    During a parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday with PM Imran Khan in the chair, the PTI lawmaker, who hails from Faisalabad, said that Tareen’s services for the PTI cannot be ignored and demanded that the senior leader be made the head of the committee.

    He also asked the PM to include Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Amir Kiyani, and Ijaz Chaudhry in the body formed to choose Senate candidates.

    In November last year, Tareen, who had drifted away from Imran Khan after he was named in a sugar scam, had returned to Pakistan after spending five months in London.

    Tareen, once a close confidant of PM Imran Khan, had a falling out with the prime minister and party leaders after he was named in an inquiry ordered by the PM over hike in sugar prices. The report made public by the government had named other politicians as well.

    A news report claimed that Tareen took this decision to end his self-imposed exile after Imran assured him a free trial about the ongoing issues among other things.

    Following the report against Tareen, Raja Riaz had defended him at the time as well. He had warned of huge loss to the PTI if Jahangir Tareen parted his ways with the party. He had claimed that some people were providing wrong information to PM Imran Khan about Tareen.