Fawad Chaudhry claimed on Sunday that four jailed PTI leaders had written a letter to party founder Imran Khan around three months ago, sharing their stance that the political temperature in the country should be brought down.

Fawad is one of the three ex-PTI leaders who say they have been engaging with the party’s incarcerated leadership to put an end to the politics of confrontation as part of their political outreach initiative. They also visited PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi, after he was taken to a hospital in Lahore from prison, on Thursday to convince him to join their campaign. But, Qureshi is said to have rebuffed their move.

However, Fawad claimed on Geo News programme ‘Naya Pakistan’ today that Qureshi, Ejaz Chaudhry, Yasmin Rashid and Mehmoodur Rasheed — all of whom were jailed following action by authorities over May 9, 2023 riots — had written a letter to Imran around three months a ago and shared their stance.

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He also claimed that he had been meeting Qureshi, Ejaz and Rasheed on multiple occasions. And those who did not visit any of the PTI members in jails were finding this development strange, he added.

“Primarily, we agree with the [contents] of the letter written by Shah sahib himself, the letter written by Ejaz Chaudhry sahib,” he said.

He further questioned that if the government would not engage in dialogue with the PTI, what option would the party have other than to stage sit-ins or carry out a protest march. “And the government will stop them.”

Fawad also stressed only Qureshi, Rashid, Ejaz, Rasheed, and another PTI leader Omer Cheema, could talk to Imran as they have a “stature”. He said other leaders in the party were also fairly good, but “there is distance between them and Imran”.

He said first, political temperatures had to be brought down, for which the “government may take a step forward and the PTI a step backward”.

“Let [incarcerated PTI leaders] be out on bail. Give A-class facilities to Imran Khan […] and Bushra Bibi in jail, so that the temperatures come down.”

He further claimed that when he met Imran in jail, he told him that people were making money in his name on YouTube and funds were being collected in the name of paying lawyers. He also said he conveyed to Imran that “even these people will not let him come out of jail”.

Fawad emphasised that until the PTI and the government would show flexibility in their stances, hostilities between the two would remain.

To a question about allegations that Fawad and other leaders part of the political outreach initiative wanted to stay relevant in politics by associating themselves with Imran, he said: “It is true that we want to keep ourselves relevant with Imran Khan. Because whatever the PTI is today, it is because of us. […] All the difficulties and pain was borne by the PTI prior to May 9. I myself stayed in jail for seven months.”

On the other hand, he said, neither Sheikh Waqas Akram nor Salman Akram Raja — who are part of the PTI’s current leadership — went to jail even for a day.

“They don’t fear minus Imran Khan. What they fear is that our formula is about Imran Khan plus and excludes them,” Fawad alleged.

He also claimed that Imran had chosen Usman Buzdar and Mehmood Khan as chief ministers because the ex-premier wanted “nobodies” in positions of authority and wanted to run the provinces himself. Similarly, he said, Imran had appointed “nobodies” in leadership positions in the party so that he could run the PTI himself.

Fawad also said that “we have been requesting the [National Assembly] speakers, Senate chairperson and two to four senior ministers. […] We will request them to make the first move. [We will tell them] that when you will give [the PTI’s incarcerated leadership relief], the political temperature will come down then.”

He said the best people in the PTI’s leadership were those in jail. “They and the PTI’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa leadership together can talk to Imran.”

“And even I can talk to Imran Khan. But I will not be allowed [to meet him],” he added.

To a question about Qureshi’s lawyer, Rana Mudassar, denying that two other ex-PTI leaders had had no political discussion with the former foreign minister during their visit to the hospital on Thursday, Fawad claimed he had spoken to Mudassar himself and he told him he had given no such statement.

Imran Ismail’s claim

Earlier today, Imran Ismail — who too was among the three ex-PTI leaders who visited Qureshi on Thursday — also insisted that the former foreign minister had agreed that the stalemate in Pakistan’s politics must end.

Ismail’s claim has come even when Qureshi’s lawyer Mudassar maintained that no political discussion had taken place between his client and the three former PTI leaders during the “surprise” visit.

However, Ismail posted on X today that some had begun to “portray our recent political outreach as a ‘minus formula’ designed to weaken Imran Khan or hijack [the] PTI. Let me be clear: there is no PTI without Imran Khan. He is its founder, face, and force.

“Our initiative — undertaken by Mehmood Moulvi, Fawad Chaudhry, and myself — is not a conspiracy. It is a conscious effort to move Pakistan’s politics away from confrontation and back toward reconciliation. The politics of defiance and endless agitation has brought PTI only shrinking space, arrests, and exhaustion. It’s time to pause, reflect, and rebuild.”

He claimed that the three of them — who were among several party members that left the PTI following a crackdown on the party in the aftermath of May 9 protests — had “privately consulted a number of PTI stalwarts. Almost all admitted that confrontation has failed and that reconciliation is the only way forward.”

“When we met Chaudhry Ijaz in Kot Lakhpat Jail and Shah Mehmood Qureshi at PKLI (Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute), both — while firmly standing with Khan — agreed that the stalemate must end. They sought normal political breathing space, not surrender,” Ismail maintained.

He further stated in the post: “Unfortunately, communication gaps, fear, and the constant social-media heat have blocked any honest conversation within PTI. Meanwhile, self-proclaimed anchors sitting abroad have made a business out of fuelling hostility and confusion, keeping divisions alive for personal gain.”

Ismail went on to say that internationally, “Field Marshal Asim Muneer’s growing diplomatic stature has reshaped perceptions of Pakistan. The expectation that foreign powers would automatically align behind Imran Khan did not materialise. The world sees a strong, stable Pakistan — and that strength comes only through political stability at home.”

“Let it also be said: if any PTI leader believes that continuing agitation and confrontation is the right path, he should come forward and convince the rest of us who think otherwise. Debate is welcome — but blind confrontation cannot be a permanent political strategy.

“Our effort is independent, sincere, and driven purely by conscience. We want normal politics to return, institutions to function, and the temperature to come down.

If reconciliation is considered betrayal, so be it. We are thinking from the heart — for PTI’s survival and Pakistan’s stability,“ he added.

Later, Fawad also posted on X that “our formula” included Imran and excluded “snakes” in the PTI. “It is moving towards implementation,” he added.

Political outreach efforts

According to Qureshi’s lawyer Mudassar, Fawad, Ismail and Moulvi had managed to gain access to Qureshi on Thursday when he was alone in his room at the hospital.

“Shah Mahmood Qureshi was surprised to see them and immediately asked the police on duty to call his lawyer, who had left just a minute ago, and tell him some ‘guests’ had arrived,” Mudassar earlier said, adding by the time he got back, the ex-PTI leaders had already gone. He said the visitors stayed only a little over 10 minutes and left without any political discussion with Qureshi.

A Dawn report quoted sources as saying that the three former PTI leaders also attempted to give the impression that another ex-party leader, Asad Umar, was also on board with their decision to launch an outreach campaign for Imran’s release. Umar, however, said he was not part of this group. He said he advised the trio against the hospital visit, as it would create friction in the party, while Qureshi’s family would also be disturbed.

Similarly, another former PTI leader, Ali Haider Zaidi, has also refuted reports of him “planning a political relaunch”, saying that he had no plans of doing so anytime soon.

His clarification came after Daily Ausaf and The Express Tribune reported, citing sources, that senior politicians who were part of the PTI’s “old leadership” were planning to relaunch a political movement calling for Imran’s release.

On the other hand, Fawad, in a video message, said the trio of former PTI leaders was trying to bring the political temperature down in the country and make the release of Imran and his wife, Bushra Bibi, possible, besides getting the right of bail for political prisoners acknowledged in the country.

He claimed that he had also met Ejaz Chaudhry and other leaders and was happy that they too agreed that the political temperature should come down in the country. He said his group members would meet PML-N senior ministers as well as Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Qureshi’s lawyer, however, termed the remarks by Fawad “deception” and said the former PTI leader did not even visit the incarcerated PTI leadership in the Kot Lakhpat jail, either on Thursday or Friday.

He said PTI leaders Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed and Omer Sarfraz Cheema were united and standing by Imran Khan, who had repeatedly announced that he would not make any deals with the establishment or the government and would fight his cases on legal grounds.

Besides Qureshi, who is expected to undergo a surgical procedure for gallbladder stones next week, Cheema and Rasheed are also hospitalised.