PM Imran throws full support behind Hafeez Shaikh, says PTI is united

Prime Minister Imran Khan said Tuesday the PTI's candidate for Senate elections 2021, Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, would win against Yousuf Raza Gillani - the hopeful fielded by the Opposition's anti-government coalition under the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) - despite money and offers presented to sway the vote.

Speaking during a meeting with Shaikh, the finance minister, and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, PM Imran Khan said the Opposition parties would employ every tactic to win the upcoming Senate election.

"That's why I was a supporter of open-ballot polls," he added.

"The corrupt gang has come here as well [but] the nation knows about the tales of their [Opposition's] corruption. "Letters are being written to the government's lawmakers and other contacts established," he noted but stressed that the PTI regime was "united".

The premier underscored that only the PTI's Hafeez Shaikh would win the Senate battle. "It is a welcome development that the issue of Senate seats in Punjab is being resolved through understanding," he stated. Separately, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar spoke on Tuesday about democracy and Pakistan's ongoing political atmosphere.

"People are seeing the darkest form of democracy and all of this is happening in the name of democracy," Umar wrote on Twitter, adding that millions were being offered in bribe to lawmakers in exchange for votes in the Senate elections. "There is a commotion on the floor of the Assembly," he noted, possibly referring to how the Sindh Assembly turned into a wrestling ring earlier today when PTI lawmakers beat up "rebel" party members.

"They still have nothing to get out of it but I wish this disgusting business could be stopped at least for the future," the federal minister added. Earlier in the day, the PTI's lawmakers in the Sindh Assembly beat up "rebel" peers - Aslam Abro, Shehryar Shar, and Karim Bakhsh Gabol - for refusing to vote for the ruling party's candidates in the Senate elections.