With political parties preparing for the general elections, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced the formation of a "political engagement committee" on Wednesday to reach out to opposition parties ahead of the polls.
Senator Ali Zafar, Senator Dr. Humayun Mohmand, Ali Muhammad Khan, Ali Asghar Khan, and Raoof Hasan are among the five members of the committee, according to a party notice issued on its official X account, formerly known as Twitter.
The news comes only days after the erstwhile ruling party announced its intention to run in general elections from "all constituencies" at both the provincial and national levels.
The Imran Khan-led party has long adopted a strong approach towards its opponents, most notably the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), and others, accusing them of corruption and looting the country.
The PTI's decision to reach out to political parties comes at a time when former adversaries are becoming future allies, with political parties leaving old enmities behind and attempting to forge new political alliances in order to strengthen their position ahead of the general elections scheduled for February 8 next year.
The PML-N and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) stated a day earlier that they would "jointly contest" the upcoming elections.
An MQM-P team led by Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Farooq Sattar, and Syed Mustafa Kamal met PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in the party's Model Town office in Lahore.
Following a "go-ahead" from its jailed party president Imran Khan, the PTI reached out to one of its strongest political opponents, JUI-F president Maulana Fazlur Rehman, last month.
A PTI team led by former national assembly speaker Asad Qaiser and including Ali Muhammad Khan, Barrister Saif, and Junaid Akbar met with the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chairman at his Islamabad residence.
The meeting occurred after Fazl committed to taking the lead in "national reconciliation" in order to provide political stability to the country.