LAHORE, May 8: A PML(QA) delegation led by Mian Azhar is scheduled to hold a breakfast meeting with Jamaat-i-Islami amir Qazi Husain Ahmad on Thursday in an attempt to find common grounds for future cooperation between the two parties.

Mian Azhar told Dawn here on Wednesday that the two parties had been allies in the past and he had reasons to believe that they could join hands again to put the country back on path to democracy.

Chaudhry Shujaat Husain and Mian Khurshid Kasuri will be the other members of the delegation.

The PML(QA) is a staunch supporter of President Musharraf, but the Jamaat is making efforts to dislodge him at the earliest. Despite this yawning gap between the two positions, Mian Azhar says a common ground can be found.

Qazi Husain Ahmad told Dawn that the meeting was taking place at the request of the PML(QA) chief. He made it clear that his party would not like to join hands with any pro-government alliance.

He said there was, in fact, no possibility of any cooperation between the two parties but he would listen to the PML(QA)’s point of view.

“There is a possibility of the Jamaat’s cooperation with the PML(N) but not the PML(QA),” said the Qazi in a categorical tone.

He said the Jamaat was a component of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Aml and it would take any decision about its future course of action in consultation with the MMA.

Leaders of the MMA are due to meet on May 13.

The PML(QA) president said at his meeting with the Jamaat leader he would admit the past mistakes of his party and express resolve to open a new chapter of relations between the two parties.

He recalled that the PML and the JI had worked together in the IJI and both had identical stand on many important issues. Difference of opinion on any subject, he said, should be taken as a blessing and a part of the democratic process.