ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari, under immense political pressure at home, has sent at least three messages to PML-N leader Mian Nawaz Sharif for a summit meeting but the invitations have been declined because, according to a top PML-N leader “we do not want any more photo sessions in the Presidency.” According to credible sources, the three messages were sent through different emissaries, political and non-political, in the last five days.
A PML-N leader told The News on Saturday that his party’s top leadership did not want any more photo sessions and that any meeting between the top leadership of the two major parties could only take place once the promises made to the nation were fulfilled, and a very clear agenda, including repealing the 17th Amendment strictly in accordance with the Charter of Democracy, was formulated.
Sources said that an adviser to the Punjab chief minister, who formerly was a senior bureaucrat, met PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday, carrying a message from Interior Ministry Czar Rehman Malik that an immediate meeting should be arranged between President Zardari and Nawaz Sharif.
Rehman gave the message to the former bureaucrat during a meeting in Islamabad some days ago and it was conveyed to the PML-N chief on Wednesday.
Yet another message was conveyed late Tuesday night during a telephone call to the PML-N chief by a fabulously rich town developer, having excellent relations with the top PPP leadership. This top town developer of the country conveyed President Zardari’s message that the president wanted an immediate meeting in the developing scenario and a worsening situation and wanted to talk on “every issue” now.
According to sources, this town developer contacted the PML-N chief after many months as his last talk with Sharif was on August 7, 2008, when he played the role of a guarantor.
A source, privy to the information, said the PML-N chief complained to the town developer and asked him where he had disappeared for five long months after giving guarantees. “Mian Nawaz Sharif asked him about the promises of August 7 and questioned why should he be trusted now. What is the need now for more meetings for negotiating the same issues?”
The messenger, however, tried to reassure the PML-N chief that now the ‘promises’ will be fulfilled.
When no positive response came from the PML-N, finally, President Zardari himself called Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif on Thursday and invited his elder brother for a meeting in the Presidency to start a fresh round of talks, the first among the two top leaders and then between the top leadership of the two parties.
The PML-N leadership, however, insists on a result-oriented meeting whose agenda, including the restoration of the deposed judges, should be decided beforehand.
A senior PML-N leader was also of the view that even if such meetings were necessary, the messages should be conveyed through political channels and not through non-political players.
Spokesman of the Presidency Farhatullah Babar, when approached by The News for version, said that according to his knowledge, no formal contact had been made with the top PML-N leadership for some fresh round of talks.
“You know, political leaders often make contacts off and on telephone or through friends but according to my information, no such development has taken place in the last few days,” Babar insisted.
When Babar was asked that according to credible information, the top PML-N leadership had been sent three different messages through political and non-political players and that the PML-N leaders said they did not want more photo sessions, Babar replied that he would not comment on hypothetical questions as according to his information no such contacts were made.
Insiders say that some sincere leaders of both the parties remain in touch despite all what has happened in the last nine months. These leaders include Raza Rabbani of the PPP and Ishaq Dar of the PML-N; however, both do not make the real decisions and feel desperate about the overall situation.
Sources say both want an immediate implementation of the promises made to the nation so that a meaningful round of talks could be initiated between the two major parties to stabilise the situation and tackle the grave crises facing the country.
this news published by www.apakistannews.com
