ISLAMABAD, April 6: A spate of high-profile meetings on Thursday and Friday have caused quite a stir in the federal capital, fuelling rumours about some drastic changes either in the government’s composition or its policies.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has held three meetings with President Pervez Musharraf and one lengthy sitting with PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain within a span of 12 hours, lending credence to speculations that some important decisions are under way.
The official spokesmen have dismissed suggestions of any change in the government.
Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani was emphatic: “Rest assured that nothing is going to change as the government is strong from within. The rumours are mere disinformation.”
Observers attach great significance to the government’s move to disband the National Accountability’s special wing dealing with corruption cases against political leaders, particularly Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari. The observers were in no doubt that the government and the People’s Party were about to clinch a deal that could help re-elect President Musharraf for another five years.
Mr Shaukat Aziz, who had called on the president on Thursday afternoon at his Rawalpindi camp office to `brief him about the meetings in New Delhi with Saarc leaders’, had two more meetings with Gen Musharraf within the next 12 hours.
An official handout issued at the end of the meeting was brief, but indicates the gravity of the situation. It read: “The two leaders also exchanged views on the political environment in the country and issues of national importance.”
It further stated that President Musharraf expressed his `complete satisfaction’ over the pace of development in various sectors, especially the execution of huge infrastructure projects.
On Thursday evening, Mrs Rukhsana Aziz, wife of the prime minister, hosted a dinner for President Musharraf and family at the PM House on Thursday evening.
The prime minister had another call on the president on Friday morning at the President’s House in Islamabad.
Furthermore, the chief of the PML, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, met the president in company with Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. That meeting, too, is being viewed with interest in the wake of reports that some ministers were not happy with the handling of the reference against the Chief Justice.
Another rumour doing the rounds was that Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had a meeting late on Thursday night with Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. The minister of state for information, Tariq Azim, would neither confirm nor deny the reports.
But he dismissed as unfounded reports that the government was looking for a patch-up with Justice Iftikhar outside the Supreme Judicial Council. “It would be too humiliating for the government if it makes retreat at this stage. It has made up its mind to accept whatever the SJC decides in the reference case.