GUJRAT: A local leader of Pakistan People’s Party, Mian Fakhar Mushtaq Pagganwala, on Wednesday called on PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain at latter’s Lahore residence and discussed the local politics of Gujrat.

Shafay Hussain, the scion of Q-chief, was also present.

The meeting is said to be have significance as the Pagganwala family had once been arch rivals of the Chaudhrys in Gujrat for long.

Talking to Dawn, Mian Fakhar - a former Gujrat district president of PPP - said the meeting was held on the directions of PPP senior leadership and he had discussed the local politics of Gujrat.

Fakhar said he had inquired after Mr Shujaat and prayed for his better health.

He said if his party would ask for any mutual cooperation with Chaudhry Shujaat, he would have no objection.

He said former president Asif Ali Zardari was a great admirer of Shujaat and a faction of ‘Q’ had also been an ally of PPP in the PML-N-led federal government.

Fakhar’s late father Mushtaq Pagganwala, a former PPP MNA, had defeated the late Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi in 1977 and then in 1988 Mr Pagganwala had lost against Shujaat by a close margin on the national assembly seat of Gujrat city.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2022