The sudden melting of ice between Pakistan’s two main opposition parties, the PML-N and the PPP, is a coincidence or a political ploy. This will be known in the next few days.
However, the meeting between the Sharif family and the Zardari family in Lahore on Saturday is considered to be of great importance.
In Pakistan’s political history, the PPP and the PML-N have been each other’s worst political rivals, and there are still occasional glimpses of this opposition. In the same way, moments of closeness keep coming in this political tide.
When the PML-N told the media last night that Shahbaz Sharif had invited PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to his house for lunch on Saturday and Maryam Nawaz also welcomed the guests. That would be great news for everyone.
The dinner was held at the residence of opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif at Model Town and the time was fixed at half past one.
When Maryam Nawaz arrived at 2 o’clock, Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also arrived at 2:30 o’clock. However, two important things happened at that time. One was that Asif Ali Zardari brought his diet food and Sindh Police Commandos Security Guard with him.
But the guards stayed outside and the food was delivered through the small door. One thing was clear from this that this meeting was just an excuse to eat.
One of the most important aspects is that for the first time in his political history Asif Ali Zardari has come to Shahbaz Sharif’s house but Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has come twice.
As soon as the car of Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari reached inside the house, Shahbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Hamza Shahbaz were standing in the courtyard of the house to receive them.
Corona’s SOPs were being fully implemented. Shahbaz Sharif and Zardari exchanged greetings with their elbows, while Bilawal and Hamza kissed each other on the palms of their hands.
When the meeting started in the drawing room of the house, the footage released to the media showed Shahbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Maryam Aurangzeb from PML-N while Asif from PPP. Ali Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Hassan Murtaza, the party’s Punjab general secretary appeared.
But the arrangement was limited to making footage. After 15 minutes of goodwill and a light discussion on the current political situation, the “real meeting” began.
A reliable source in the Sharif family told Urdu News that it was already decided that there would be only five people in the meeting and all arrangements were made in this regard. After the initial meeting, food was served and then another important meeting started.
The meeting between the two families lasted for about an hour in which only Shahbaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari, Maryam Nawaz, Bilawal Bhutto and Hamza Shahbaz were present.
Interestingly, political analysts believe that the meeting was not a surprise but that everything was pre-arranged. And they have a solid reason to say so and that is that the PPP informed the media on Friday about the arrival of Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Lahore but they had reached Lahore a day before that. Û”
After an hour-long meeting, the media was also called in. However, the real conversation between the two powerful political families was not mentioned. However, many things can be deduced from one sentence during Shahbaz Sharif’s press conference.
“I agree with everything that has been decided in this meeting,” he said. Now I will take this decision to the party leader Nawaz Sharif, the party’s CEC and PDM and then the media will be informed.
Political pundits believe that the issue is now being escalated by a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
During the press conference, journalists repeatedly asked Maryam Nawaz if she still considers Bilawal selected. So Shahbaz Sharif smiled and said don’t worry now I am standing in the middle.
By: Alif Saleem