Former Home Minister Umar Naseer has claimed the possibility of him running for the president's office in 2018 presidential election.
Naseer who formerly spearheaded IDP - Islamic Democratic Party - officially joined the famous businessmen Qasim Ibrahim's Jumhoory Party on Wednesday, following which he stated that if the JP leader does not fit the criterion for running to the office, he will run through JP's ticket in turn.
However Naseer's prime motive of pledging allegiance to JP was to help and engineer the possibility of Qasim Ibrahim's presidential run for the upcoming election, which he affirmed upon being questioned by Avas Online.
The former Home Minister expressed his support for selecting the JP leader who is also Villa Group's honcho as the presidential candidate from the United Opposition Alliance - opposition parties comprising of MDP, JP and AP (Adaalath Party).
"For me working with Jumhoory Party is not a new experience as I have been assisting and collaborating with them for a long time. The party's [JP] leader currently is abroad for medical attention so I wanted to extend my assistance to the party," Naseer said.
Earlier Naseer had expressed his support on Qasim Ibrahim running for office from the Opposition, however under amendments made to the local Constitution the JP leader does not classify as a viable candidate.
This amendment cites that citizens aged 65 and above cannot run for presidential office - a move that sparked outrage in the opposition parties as they accused the ruling PPM of openly 'removing' competition.
