In a twist of events, a delegation comprising Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) top leadership met Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Thursday, with the approval of party chairman Imran Khan.
For years now, Imran has targeted Fazl — and vice versa — and both are considered arch-foes. Fazl’s party was also part of the coalition government and helped remove Imran from power last year.
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Talking to journalists after the meeting in Islamabad, PTI’s senior leader Asad Qaiser said: “Everyone, including the PTI chairman, had approved of this meeting.”
“Today, we came to offer our condolences [over the demise of Fazl’s mother-in-law], this is our culture. We did not discuss politics in the meeting,” said Qaiser who is a staunch supporter of Imran and a former speaker of the National Assembly.
But as per media reports the country’s political situation and other important matters also came under discussion during the meeting, which went on for an hour.
From PTI’s side, Qaiser, Ali Muhammad Khan, Barrister Muhammad Ali Khan Saif, and Junair Akbar partook in the meeting.
The development comes days after, according to media reports, Fazl had agreed to play a leading role in national reconciliation in a bid to bring political stability to the country.
According to sources privy to the development, Fazl, who also heads the multi-party alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), has supported the idea of playing a role in political dialogue among key stakeholders at the suggestion of former senator Muhammad Ali Durrani.
Durrani told media that the PDM chief had agreed to play a leading role in national reconciliation. “Fazl is a national leader who can bring about national reconciliation,” he said.
The politicking comes as Pakistan is gradually moving towards elections, expected to take place in January next year.
PTI chief Imran is currently behind bars and cannot contest the elections, while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif has come back to the country and aims for a fourth stint as the prime minister — if he can get the court cases cleared.
