Mansoora rendezvous: PPP, JI agree to continue politics of reconciliation

Zardari meets Sirajul Haq; JI ameer appreciates PPP co-chairman’s policies.

LAHORE:

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari visited Mansoora, the headquarters of Jamaat-e-Islami, on Friday to meet the party’s Ameer Sirajul Haq — thus becoming the first PPP leader in 32 years to visit the headquarters of the politico-religious party.

Appearing at a joint news conference after an hour-long closed-door meeting, the two leaders agreed to continue ‘politics of reconciliation’ in order to take the country forward.

“We have a one-point agenda: to take our country forward. We don’t want to make the future bleak for our coming generations,” Zardari said. “I was in the UK when the [Azadi and Inqilab] marches began and I had to request Sirajul Haq to handle the situation,” he added.

Zardari said that the PPP and JI were ‘mature political parties’ and they decided to intervene in the ongoing political crisis to avert any untoward incident. He was referring to the role played by the two parties in defusing the explosive situation caused by the protest sit-ins of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehreek.

Zardari said that the world was changing and new borders were being drawn. “[In such a political scenario] we should be careful and not let our enemies take advantage of the situation and cause damage to Pakistan. We will have to take decisions while keeping the national interest in view,” he added.



About the chronic electricity woes, Zardari said that nobody could do anything in isolation and all political forces would have to work together to overcome the crisis. “We will have to think about the future energy requirements of the country.”

JI chief Sirajul Haq appreciated Zardari for his policy of reconciliation in politics. He said democracy was a blessing but its fruits were not reaching the common man. “Pakistan’s Constitution is a chain which joins all the provinces together, so its protection is everybody’s responsibility,” he added.

“We discussed how can we give up the bitter past and promote new democratic norms among rulers and all parties.

Our intervention saved Lahore from becoming a battleground on August 14 and prevented our country from becoming a laughing stock in the world. The role of the PPP in the political Jirga has been appreciable,” the JI chief said.

PPP Vice President Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, Information Secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira, former Punjab governor Manzoor Ahmad Watto and JI’s central leadership also attended the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2014.