- Former Punjab governor confirms resolution of differences with PTI VC as sources say both leaders had a video conference to sort out tiff over PTI president’s slot
- Khan snubs PTI VC for holding secret meeting with US ambassador, says he won’t tolerate diplomatic reach-outs without his approval
Following a phase of jealousy-fuelled acrimony, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, former Punjab governor and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) loyalist who recently joined PTI, appear to have secured a truce, sources told Pakistan Today.
Sources said that Qureshi and Sarwar had an hour-long conference through a video link and sorted out their differences.
During the conversation, Sarwar assured the PTI VC that he was not interested in grabbing the party president’s slot, sources said. He addressed Qureshi’s insecurities by telling him that the party’s hierarchy was lined with Imran Khan on the top, followed by Qureshi and PTI Secretary General Jahangir Tareen, and he had joined their team as an ordinary worker.
Later on, while talking to Pakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami on Channel 24, Sarwar said that there were no differences between him and his party leadership.
When asked about his video conference with Qureshi in which he had categorically listed the party’s hierarchy, Sarwar laughed and said, “Pakistan’s media has progressed so much that such minute details about people are not even available to RAW and Mossad but to reporters.”
“Everyone knows who is on the number one slot in PTI’s hierarchy and who is on number two and three. I didn’t say anything new. You should know that we are aiming to develop the party and this can only be done through unity,” he added.
“I want to clear this once and for all that I neither had reservations with PTI members before and nor I have any issue currently.”
When asked about the tiff over PTI president’s slot, Sarwar made it clear that the slot could not be gifted. “It is an elected position and we cannot set a good precedent if we go beyond the constitution of our party by gifting such slots,” he said, adding that all the PTI cadres had given him a lot of respect and had even included his name in the PTI’s Core Committee for which he was grateful.
When asked about what brought him to Pakistan from Glasgow, Sarwar said, “Baroness Saeeda Warsi had also warned me about my decision to move to Pakistan but I believe that I owed it to my country. I had to bring to use the experience I gained after staying in Britain for about 30 to 40 years. Pakistan’s issue are more dear to me that my personal issues.”
Moreover, the former provincial governor revealed that he had decided quitting his office four months prior to his resignation but did not owing to unstable political environment.
“Had I left the government during dharnas, I could have been blamed for leaving the government in the lurch. I waited till the government was stable and then resigned. I still respect Sharif brothers a lot but I just could not make peace with the fact that human rights were bring usurped in a province I was the governor of.”
KHAN PERTURBED OVER QURESHI-US AMBASSADOR ‘DATE’:
In another incident, PTI Chairman Imran Khan has reportedly expressed annoyance over a “secret meeting” between PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and the US ambassador.
According to sources, a few days ago, Khan and Qureshi were sharing a ride when the former received a telephone call informing him about the meeting. Khan was highly annoyed and questioned Qureshi about his meeting with the US ambassador.
Qureshi told Khan that he was “just going to inform him about the meeting”.
“Khan also asked Qureshi whether he told the US ambassador that they were trying to cool down their leader for his hard stance on some issues,” sources cited Khan to have asked. “Qureshi replied with a silence,” sources added.
Qureshi assured that Khan would have no complaint in the future after Khan made it clear that he would not tolerate such meetings with diplomats without taking him into confidence.