ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari invited on Friday disgruntled Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F and Pakistan Muslim League-Q (Like-minded) to join the ruling coalition before a possible reshuffle in the federal cabinet early next month, according to sources in the presidency.
Following his meeting with the president in the wee hours of Friday, JUI-F head Maulana Fazlur Rehman also called on PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif.
Interestingly, leaders of the ‘Like-minded’ group Salim Saifullah and his brother Anwar Saifullah, who called on the president in the evening, had met Mr Sharif a couple of days ago.
“There is no harm if these parties join the ruling coalition,” presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said.
The sources told Dawn the meetings indicated that the JUI-F and the Q-League (Like-minded) were engaged in hard bargaining with the two main political parties -- Pakistan People’s Party and PML-N -- before striking a deal with either.
Mr Babar said the government would reshuffle the federal cabinet in the first week of next month and it was expected that some new faces would come into it.
The sources said the JUI-F chief had assured Mr Zardari that his party would play a ‘friendly opposition’ role in the Senate after Maulana Ghafoor Haideri was made leader of the opposition.
However, Maulana Fazl told a private TV channel that he had met President Zardari and the PML-N chief as a head of the parliamentary committee on Kashmir to inform them about his efforts to revive the Kashmir issue in the country as well as Azad Kashmir.
“I have invited President Zardari and Nawaz Sharif to a multi-party conference on Kashmir being organised by me in the first week of July. That was the sole purpose of my meetings,” he said.
Maulana Fazl said the main objective of the conference was to bring the Foreign Office, the establishment and political parties in Pakistan and AJK on the same page on the Kashmir issue. Asked if the matter of election of opposition leader in the Senate came up during his meeting with Mr Sharif, the JUI-F chief said only the issue of Kashmir had been discussed.
But PML-N sources said Maulana Fazl and Mr Sharif had discussed the issue of opposition leader in the Senate and the Abbottabad commission. They said the meeting was held in a tense atmosphere and Mr Sharif had expressed displeasure over Maulana Fazl’s opposition to the formation of the commission. He also told the JUI-F chief that it was a right of PML-N to have its leader of the opposition in the upper house.
Several attempts were made to contact Salim Saifullah, but he was not available.
The PPP has already joined hands with its foe of the past, Q-League, and given it a significant position in the federal cabinet with 14 ministerial slots and one minister of state.
The PPP has also restored its relations with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which had turned unfriendly after Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza had passed derogatory remarks against the MQM over the issue of law and order and target killings in Karachi. The MQM rejoined the federal cabinet last month.
Political analysts believe that the Q-League might have some reservations over the ‘Like-minded’ group leaders’ meeting with President Zardari and in case of a settlement with the Saifullahs, the bargaining position of Chaudhry brothers would weaken.
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