ISLAMABAD: PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari spent a busy day in the federal capital on Friday as he met a number of foreign diplomats and delegations.

According to PPP spokesman Farhatulah Babar, US Ambassador Richard Olson called on Mr Zardari and discussed with him matters relating to Pakistan-US ties and the situation in Afghanistan.

A PPP delegation, headed by Mr Zardari, called on the visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah, former prime ministers Raja Pervez Ashraf and Yousuf Raza Gilani, Senator Rahman Malik and Sherry Rehman were part of the delegation.

Denmark’s Ambassadors Jesper Sorensen and Spanish Ambassador Carbajosa also held separate meetings with Mr Zardari.

Later, the PPP co-chairman presided over a party meeting which discussed the forthcoming Senate elections and the political situation in the country.

A candidate for the Senate election from Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Noor Alam Afridi, called upon Mr Zardari.

Saad Rafiq: A PML-N leader and Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafiq also held a meeting with the PPP co-chairman and discussed with him matters pertaining to cooperation in the Senate elections.

Political observers attach significance to the meeting, particularly in the context of PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervez Elahi’s recent statement in which he had ruled out a clean sweep by the PML-N in the elections and announced that during the exercise his party would cooperate with PPP in Punjab.

The contact between the PPP and PML-N is being seen as an attempt by the latter to prevent such a scenario from taking shape.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Saad Rafiq said the PML-N would “not allow the role of money” in the Senate elections.

He said political parties should field candidates for the Senate in accordance with their representation in the national and provincial assemblies.

Published in Dawn February 14th , 2015

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