Nawaz’s interaction with Elahi, Makhdoom ‘were not political’

PML-N leader Pervez Rashid insists wrong interoperation has been drawn from the meetings

LAHORE:

A senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) dismissed any suggestion that the party Quaid Nawaz Sharif’s telephonic conversation with PML-Quaid-e-Azam leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and his meeting in London with senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood contained a political agenda.

Clarifying that both the meetings had nothing to do with forming any new political alliances, PML-N leader Pervez Rashid insisted that wrong interoperation had been drawn from Nawaz's telephonic conversation with Elahi and his meeting with Makhdoom Ahmed.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Rashid said that a section of the media was going beyond its primary role of giving news and giving analyses on it. He added that happenings were pieced together to validate a hypothetical situation to appease certain individuals.

The senior PML-N leader said that both the meetings were personal-level engagements and had no political agenda to begin with. He stressed that irrespective of political differences with the Chaudhry brothers, the “element of respect” was still there.

Read Doctors advise Nawaz against travelling

In that spirit, Mian Nawaz Sharif called Chaudary Parvez Elahi to enquire about the health of Chaudhry Shujaat, he said. Similarly, the meeting with Makhdoom Ahmad, was also taken out of context. Makhdoom had even met with Nawaz Sharif when he was in jail.

Pervez Rashid asked that if a person could visit Nawaz Sharif in jail, why could not he meet him outside. The senior PML-N leader stressed that both these meetings were not aimed at forming an alliance against the government.

Responding to a question about the debate of the next candidate for the premiership, Rashid said that such debates were only meant to deflect attention from the actual issue of the country.

The actual issue was that the people were angry with the state, adding that the state could not just continue to look the other way. “We need to learn some lessons from the fall of Dhaka,” he concluded.