Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf revealed on Friday that he was open to an alliance with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, however, adding that he would not “work under him”.
Musharraf was speaking to Karan Thapar on Devil’s Advocate when he made the comments. Speaking from Dubai, he said Pakistan needed a third political option when asked whether alliance with Imran Khan was a possibility.
Musharraf, whose newly-found party the APML recently organised a lukewarm rally in Karachi, said he was open for an alliance with cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, but will not serve under him if elected to power.
“If they [the PTI] want an alliance, certainly I would like to have an alliance. We have to come with a third political option because the two political options presently and in the past have been tried and failed … there is a need of coalition of forces which can bring about that third political option which can deliver to Pakistan,” Musharraf, who intends to return to Pakistan from self-exile later this month, said.
He said he was aware of people in Imran’s party who keep saying that they will not get into an alliance with him. “But they don’t have a vision, they don’t understand what they are talking about. They go into the field and lose and then (people) choose the same party. Then Pakistan suffers,” he said.
He vehemently rejected suggestions of serving under Imran, if the alliance came to power. “I cannot serve under him. I can be outside … I cannot be serving under anyone,” the former military ruler said.