ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and former president Asif Ali Zardari on Monday called on Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif where the two sides exchanged views regarding the current political situation of the country.
Media reports said that the informal meeting was held in the lobby of the Parliament House and prominent lawmakers including former premiers Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Raja Pervez Ashraf, Naveed Qamar and others were also present in it.
Zardari and Shehbaz were also seen shaking hands with each other during a session of the National Assembly earlier on Monday. Meanwhile, PPP lawmaker Khursheed Shah held a separate meeting with the opposition leader in his chamber.
When a reporter asked him about his ‘meeting’ with Nawaz Sharif on Monday, Zardari joked, “Sir, you make us meet each other, you say, whatever you command [us to do].”
On rumours about his possible arrest, the former president told the newsmen, “You always fear so, but I do not.”
The two leaders had last met in late October this year. They had agreed to cooperate on national issues, according to media reports, adding that the Shehbaz and Zardari entered the National Assembly together after the session resumed and held a brief discussion.
Shehbaz and Zardari agreed upon a working relationship and also decided on a joint strategy to deal with problems the country is currently facing, reports said.
Lately, Zardari has been increasingly critical of the incumbent PTI government amid speculations of snap elections in the country.
In a recent rally, the PPP co-chairman said that his party will form the next government if midterm polls are held.
“The PPP government will work for the masses and will give them their due rights,” Zardari told the public gathering. “We are getting indication of mid-term polls.”
The former president said that Imran Khan wouldn’t have been prime minister had there been free and fair polls.
During his Hyderabad speech, he had said only parliament could take decisions for the nation, and that “individuals with three-year terms” had no right to do so.
“What right does an individual, with a tenure of three years, have to make decisions about my nation?” the PPP-co-chairman had questioned, while addressing the public gathering. “Only parliament has this right and no one else.”
Without naming anyone, he had said they keep visiting different places, questioning, “What do you have to do [with them]?
“There are 0.9 million pending in courts, you should look into them first,” Zardari had said. “You have no future, why do you decide about the future of things?
“I say it even today that one should act remaining within legal and constitutional bounds,” he had added.