Chaudhry cousins reunite behind bars

Shujaat holds three-hour long meeting with Elahi in Adiala Jail

RAWALPINDI:

In a significant development, leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), led by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, engaged in an almost three-hour-long meeting with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Chaudhry Pervez Elahi at Adiala Jail on Thursday.

The meeting comes at a crucial juncture in the country's political landscape, as both major parties, PML-N and PTI, vie for coalition partners to secure a majority in the wake of the recent elections.

Express News reported that Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, along with other PML-Q leaders including Chaudhry Wajahat, Chaudhry Salik, Chaudhry Shafi, and Mantaha Ashraf, convened at Adiala Jail for discussions with Elahi.

The meeting, held in the conference room of Adiala Jail, covered a range of topics, including the overall political situation in the country and family matters. Sources indicate that discussions also touched upon Chaudhry Pervez Elahi's health and the facilities available to him in prison.

The high-stakes talks come as both PML-N and PTI find themselves short of securing enough seats to independently form a government at the Centre. With the race for prime minister candidates underway, negotiations with smaller parties have become pivotal.

After two hours and forty minutes of discussions, the members of the Chaudhry family from Gujrat left Adiala Jail for Islamabad without engaging in any media talk. The discreet nature of their departure adds an air of mystery to the deliberations that took place behind closed doors.

The meeting is part of the ongoing political maneuvering among major players in the country. Both PML-N and PTI have
announced their prime ministerial candidates and are actively engaging with other political entities, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), and Chaudhry Shujaat's PML-Q, to garner support for forming governments at the Centre and in Punjab.