LAHORE: Chaudhrys of Gujrat on Sunday contacted Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and urged him to resolve issues with the government through dialogues.

President of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid Chaudhry Shujaat Husain and Speaker of the Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, who is also a member of the negotiation team formed by the government to hold talks with the Azadi march organisers, separately talked to Maulana Fazl over phone and pleaded with him to give negotiations a chance for settling whatever the issues he has with the government.

A close aide of the Chaudhrys claims that they got a positive response from the JUI-F chief and on the basis of this they also plan to meet the Maulana in Islamabad on Monday (today).

A press release quoted Chaudhry Shujaat as congratulating him on the success of the Azadi march through which the two major opposition parties, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), went in the background accepting Maulana Fazl as their leader.

Trivialising Shahbaz Sharif’s role, he said the PML-N president became opposition leader (in the National Assembly) only coincidently while the JUI-F chief was doing the real job of an opposition leader.

Chaudhry Shujaat doubted that Shahbaz Sharif could be helpful in making the sit-in a success.

He also advised the Maulana to negate the impression created by his remarks against the armed forces and advised him to adopt reconciliatory approach of his late father Mufti Mehmood.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2019