A day after resigning from the National Assembly and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi went on an unannounced visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday night.
After announcing his resignation in Islamabad on Monday evening, Qureshi left for Multan the next morning and came back to the capital in the night and departed for the UAE, where he is expected to stay until November 22.
Qureshi’s quiet visit has triggered speculations in the capital. Rumours of a reconciliation attempt by mutual friends of Qureshi and President Zardari in the Emirates’ royal family are echoing in some circles in Islamabad. However, individuals close to the former PPP leader have rebutted such reports, claiming that Qureshi’s decision of quitting the party was irreversible.
The disgruntled PPP stalwart has so far not announced plans for his future political affiliation, despite strong temptations from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) led by cricket legend Imran Khan.
Despite Khan’s claim that Qureshi would announce his PTI membership on November 27 in a public procession at Khotki.
The PML-N leaders hope that Qureshi, once a member of their party, would revert to them. There are also reports that Qureshi was in a regular contact with Murtaza Bhutto’s widow Ghinwa Bhutto and his children Zulfiqar Junior and Fatima Bhutto, and was trying to inflict political damage on Zardari by joining PPP-Shaheed Bhutto.