PTI leader hints meeting between Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan

A top Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader has sought a meeting between party chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif brokered by President Arif Alvi, a private TV channel reported on Sunday.

The statement makes it seem that the former ruling party seeks to simmer down tensions between them, the establishment, and their political opponents as the nation is on the road towards the general election — which is scheduled to be held in the last week of January next year, the report added.

Imran is disqualified and might not be able to contest the elections if he is not able to get relief from the country’s courts — with just months in the general polls.

On top of that, Nawaz is also in Pakistan after finally ending his four-year exile, and in his homecoming speech, he mentioned that he does not want to take revenge on his opponents.

“The president should call Nawaz and Imran and hold a meeting,” senior PTI leader Ali Muhammad Khan told the TV channel after PML-N supremo’s speech at Minar-e-Pakistan, adding that Dr Alvi holds a unique position of serving on the top during the tenures of his party and his foes — the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

Ali also welcomed Nawaz back to Pakistan but at the same time said he would have preferred the PML-N supremo’s return in line with the “law”.

“It would have been better if Nawaz’s return was according to the Constitution and law. The government’s welcome of a convict raises questions,” the PTI leader said, as he called for transparent elections.

In his speech, Nawaz hinted at mending ties with the institutions and stressed that “state institutions, politicians, and all the pillars of the state” needed to work together.

Reacting to Ali’s proposal about a Nawaz-Imran meeting to cool down the prevalent political temperatures in the country, PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah said that the PTI chairman was not ready to sit with anyone.

He further said that no message was delivered to the PML-N or any other political party by the PTI chairman.