Former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday joined cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, giving it a boost in the run up to the general election scheduled for 2013.
Mr. Qureshi, who recently quit the ruling Pakistan People’s Party after being estranged from it earlier this year, told a gathering of about 30,000 people at Ghotki in southern Sindh province that he would be part of Mr. Khan’s movement to bring about wide-ranging changes.
“Imran Khan sahab, from today Shah Mahmood is part of your team,” Mr. Qureshi said as the crowd cheered.
The speech by Mr. Qureshi, the custodian of one of the most influential sufi shrines in Punjab, was peppered with spiritual slogans and religious analogies.
Mr. Qureshi compared PPP chief and President Asif Ali Zardari to the Pharaohs of Egypt, saying he had tried to prevent the holding of the rally at Ghotki.
Since Mr. Qureshi quit the PPP and Parliament earlier this month, he has repeatedly attacked Mr. Zardari and other leaders of the PPP, blaming them for failing to tackle problems like corruption, poor governance, rising prices and crippling power cuts.
