WASHINGTON: The much talked about meeting between US Vice President Joe Biden and former president Asif Ali Zardari and US Vice President Joe Biden did happen and, if media reports are to be believed, they discussed all major issues concerning Pakistan and the United States.

The two leaders met at the residence of Pakistan’s former ambassador-at-large Ray Mahmud for an iftar-dinner.

But media reports claimed that they also had a separate, hour-long meeting, which was attended by some members of the US Congress as well.

News of Zardari-Biden meeting generates wild speculations

PPP co-chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also attended the meeting. Mr Zardari and his son are both staying with Mr Mahmud, media reports claimed.

According to these reports, the two leaders discussed the military operation in North Waziristan, US-Pakistan ties and the situation in Afghanistan, besides “other issues of mutual interests”.

Unfortunately, all these reports are based on speculations. No journalist was invited and those who tried to hang around the venue to identify the guests were sent back.

The host had made it amply clear that it was “a non-media event and no journalist will be welcomed”.

Another warning came from the White House which issued a statement before the meeting, saying: “The vice president will attend an iftar-dinner at a private residence. This event is closed to press.”

So even the White House press corps which usually follows the president and the vice president wherever they go was asked not to bother.

This unusual secrecy generated wild speculations, which received a major boost from a statement by PPP leader Shehla Raza, who is also the deputy speaker of the Sindh Assembly. She claimed that Mr Zardari had gone to Washington to remind the Americans that when they arranged the NRO deal back in the Musharraf era, they had assured both PPP and PML-N that the civilians will be given 15 years to run the country and there would be no military takeover before at least three elections were held.

PPP distanced itself from the statement, saying that it did not reflect the party’s official stance on this issue.

But PTI’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was the foreign minister in the PPP government, added fuel to the fire by claiming that he too believed Mr Zardari had gone to Washington to remind Americans of the NRO deal.

Another interesting twist in the story came from the conspiracy lovers in the Pakistani media who claimed that the so-called “power circles in Pakistan are already talking about forming a government of national unity”.

PPP and PML-N leaders in Washington encouraged the conspiracy theorists by saying that Mr Zardari indeed had come to tell the Americans they should help the present government complete its tenure.

It is difficult to say if there’s any truth in any of these theories but the absence of an authentic media briefing by either the US or Pakistani side, has given the conspiracy theorists a free hand.

Published in Dawn, July 24th , 2014