Due to growing closeness between the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), a new debate has emerged in provincial politics over the possibility of an electoral alliance between the two parties.

As a first step, the two parties have decided to work together as a joint opposition within the provincial assembly. Under the arrangement, they will adopt a common strategy on legislative matters.

Provincial Information Minister Shafi Jan claimed in a private TV programme that PTI and JUI have come quite close and that the contours of an alliance between the two parties would soon be finalised. When asked about the possibility of an electoral alliance in the next general elections, he also responded in the affirmative.

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However, JUI provincial spokesperson Abdul Jalil Jan distanced himself from Shafi Jan’s statement, saying that the time for an electoral alliance had not yet arrived and that no decision could be made at this stage.

Abdul Jalil Jan said that, for now, only an alliance within the assembly had been formed, which JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had also acknowledged. He said there was still time before the elections and that a decision on an electoral alliance would be taken when the election process approaches. For now, he clarified, no such decision has been made.

In the past, PTI and JUI were strong political rivals. Therefore, their decision to work together as a joint opposition inside the assembly is being viewed as a significant development in the politics of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.