GUJRAT: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur held a ‘special’ meeting with two veteran political figures of Punjab Hamid Nasir Chattha, a former National Assembly speaker, as well as former Punjab governor Mian Azhar.

The meeting was held at the Lahore residence of MNA Muhammad Ahmed Chattha, the deputy parliamentary leader of PTI in the National Assembly following Gandapur’s address to bar.

Sources close to Mr Chattha said that the KP chief minister also held an ‘important’ meeting with some foreign delegates.

They said Gandapur had a detailed discussion on the prevailing political situation in the country and he was quoted as terming PTI’s national stance effective and stated that the release of Imran Khan had been his top priority.

Both the veteran politicians -- Hamid Nasir Chattha and Mian Azhar -- are known for their political rivalry with PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif. Mr Chattha had parted ways with Nawaz when the latter removed Muhammad Khan Junejo as president of the Pakistan Muslim League and himself became the party chief in the early 90s.

However, Mr Chattha had formed his own faction of Muslim League as PML-J (Junejo) in 1993 and became the coalition partner of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and PPP-led federal and Punjab governments until 1996. Later Mr Chattha also remained an ally of Pervez Musharraf and the PML-Q.

Mr Chattha’s scion Ahmed Chattha has been in PTI for the last almost a decade and won NA and PA seats from Wazirabad in February 2024 general elections and retained the NA seat.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2025