Imran Ismail, one of three former PTI leaders who visited the party’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi at a Lahore hospital on Thursday, insisted on Sunday that the former foreign minister had agreed that the deadlock in Pakistan’s politics must end.
Ismail’s claim came even as Qureshi’s lawyer Rana Mudassar maintained that no political discussion had taken place between his client and the three former PTI leaders during the “surprise” visit.
However, Ismail posted today on [the] PTI. Let me be clear: there is no PTI without Imran Khan. He is its founder, face and strength.
“Our initiative, undertaken by Mehmood Moulvi, Fawad Chaudhry and myself, is not a conspiracy. It is a conscious effort to move Pakistan’s politics away from confrontation and back towards reconciliation. The politics of endless defiance and agitation has only brought the PTI shrinking space, arrests and exhaustion. It is time to pause, reflect and rebuild.”
He claimed that the three, who were among several party members who left the PTI following the party’s crackdown following the May 9 protests, had “privately consulted with several PTI stalwarts. Almost all of them admitted that confrontation has failed and that reconciliation is the only way forward.”
“When we met Chaudhry Ijaz in Kot Lakhpat jail and Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the PKLI (Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute), both of them, while firmly supporting Khan, agreed that the stalemate must end. They were looking for a normal political respite, not surrender,” Ismail said.
Qureshi has been charged in multiple cases related to the May 9, 2023 riots and remains behind bars since August 2023. He has been hospitalized at PKLI for complications from gallbladder stones, his daughter said on Friday.
Ismail further stated in the post: “Unfortunately, communication gaps, fear and the constant heat of social media have blocked any honest conversations within the PTI. Meanwhile, self-proclaimed presenters sitting abroad have made a business of fueling hostility and confusion, keeping divisions alive for personal gain.”
He went on to say that internationally, “Field Marshal Asim Muneer’s growing diplomatic stature has reshaped perceptions of Pakistan. The expectation that foreign powers would automatically align behind Imran Khan did not materialize. The world sees a strong and stable Pakistan, and that strength comes only through internal political stability.”
“Let it also be said: if any PTI leader believes that continuing agitation and confrontation is the right path, he should come forward and convince the rest of us who think otherwise. Debate is welcome, but blind confrontation cannot be a permanent political strategy.
“Our effort is independent, sincere and driven purely by conscience. We want normal politics to return, institutions to function and the temperature to drop.
If reconciliation is considered treason, so be it. “We are thinking from the heart: for the survival of the PTI and the stability of Pakistan,” he added.
Later, Fawad also posted on X that “our formula” included Imran and excluded the “snakes” in the PTI. “Progress is being made towards implementation,” he added.
Political outreach efforts
Ismail, Moulvi and Fawad visited Qureshi in the hospital, ostensibly to convince the jailed party vice-president to join their “Imran Khan release campaign”, a move which was rejected by Qureshi.
According to their lawyer Mudassar, the three former PTI leaders managed to gain access to Qureshi on Thursday when he was alone in his room.
“Shah Mahmood Qureshi was shocked to see them and immediately asked the police on duty to call his lawyer, who had left just a minute ago, and tell him that some ‘guests’ had arrived,” Mudassar said earlier, adding that when he returned, the former PTI leaders had already left. He said the visitors stayed only a little more than 10 minutes and left without any political discussion with Qureshi.
TO Sunrise The report quoted sources as saying that the three former PTI leaders also tried to give the impression that another former party leader, Asad Umar, also agreed with their decision to launch an outreach campaign for Imran’s release. Umar, however, said he was not part of this group. He said he discouraged the trio from visiting the hospital as it would create friction in the party while Qureshi’s family would also be disturbed.
Similarly, another former PTI leader Ali Haider Zaidi has also refuted reports that he is “planning a political relaunch”, saying he had no plans to do so anytime soon.
His clarification came later Daily Ausaf and The express tribune reported, citing sources, that senior politicians who were part of the PTI’s “former leadership” were planning to relaunch a political movement calling for Imran’s release.
On the other hand, Fawad, in a video message, stated that the trio of former PTI leaders were trying to lower the political temperature in the country and make possible the release of Imran and his wife, Bushra Bibi, in addition to achieving recognition in the country of the right to bail for political prisoners.
He said they were trying to create an environment where dialogue could take place. “The political temperature can come down in the country only if the PTI takes a step back and the government takes a step forward.”
He claimed that he had also met Ejaz Chaudhry and other leaders and was happy that they too agreed that the political temperature should be lowered in the country. He said his group members would meet PML-N chief ministers as well as Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
Qureshi’s lawyer, however, termed Fawad’s comments as “hoax” and said the former PTI leader did not even visit the PTI leaders imprisoned in Kot Lakhpat jail, either on Thursday or Friday.
He said PTI leaders Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed and Omer Sarfraz Cheema were united and supported Imran Khan, who had repeatedly announced that he would not make any deal with the establishment or the government and would fight their cases on legal grounds.
Apart from Qureshi, who is expected to undergo surgery for gallbladder stones next week, Omer Sarfraz Cheema and Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed are also hospitalized.
