ISLAMABAD – The government is still hopeful that JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman will revisit his decision of quitting the government at the Centre, as Interior Minister Rehman Malik has convinced Fazl to meet President Asif Ali Zardari in the coming days.
A JUI-F source told Pakistan Today on Saturday that Malik made a telephone call to Fazl on Thursday and convinced him to meet Zardari at a time of his choice to “review the post-JUI-F separation” situation.
The source said Fazl’s fiery speech in the National Assembly in which he lashed out at the PPP-led coalition government and called it a “threat to sharia” prompted the interior minister to contact him on the president’s behalf.
Malik assured Fazl that the government was ready to remove his grievances if he renewed his partnership with the coalition. He told Fazl that Zardari had taken serious notice of his speech and wished to meet him.
Sources said that the JUI-F chief told Malik that his party did not want to derail the democratic system and expressed his willingness to meet the president.
