<\/p>\n
Former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser on Thursday said PTI founder Imran Khan had nominated Omer Ayub as the candidate for prime minister and called for engagement with other political parties \u2014 including the Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) \u2014 protesting the Feb 8 election results.<\/p>\n
The announcement came after Qaiser held a meeting with the imprisoned party chief at Adiala Jail. A day earlier, the PTI leader had petitioned the Islamabad High Court seeking a meeting with Imran to discuss the current political scenario.<\/p>\n
With post-election deal-making in high gear, the PTI \u2014 like all other political parties \u2014 is weighing its options. Earlier this week, the Imran-led party, whose independent candidates clinched<\/a> a lion\u2019s share in the polls, said it would ally with the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen<\/a> in the Centre and Punjab.<\/p>\n The party had said it would form a coalition government with the Jamaat-i-Islami in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, JI\u2019s Liaquat Baloch later said that his party was not interested<\/a> in working with the PTI in the province.<\/p>\n In a media talk outside Adiala Jail today, Qaiser said Imran had nominated PTI central general secretary Omar Ayub Khan \u2014 who is in hiding after facing over 20 criminal charges following the May 9 riots \u2014 as the candidate for prime minister.<\/p>\n \u201cSecondly, every child knows about the rigging that took place in the elections and how our mandate was stolen [\u2026] regarding this, Khan sahib<\/em> will give a date for nationwide protests by evening,\u201d Qaiser said.<\/p>\n