Qureshi leaves the pundits guessing

The much-awaited and closely observed meeting between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s president, Nawaz Sharif, and Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday did not produce any result as rumours kept swirling in Islamabad that the latter may formally announce joining
PML-N.

“Mr Qureshi has been a foreign minister and a successful one. Now he is looking beyond that post. Neither the PTI nor the PML-N is in a position to offer him anything beyond that. That is precisely where Mr Qureshi is stuck,” a news report said.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi who recently resigned from his national assembly seat after quitting the Pakistan People’s Party, an affiliation which lasted for over 18 years, is in sixes and sevens when it comes to the decision pertaining to his future strategy.

Pakistani Tehrik-e Insaf, led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, is trying hard to woo the former Foreign Minister to its fold, while Nawaz Sharif has reportedly agreed to meet a lot of demands that Shah Mehmood Qureshi has with regards to seat adjustment
in Multan.

Considered to be the stronghold of Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Multan has some big names of Pakistani politics who lock in tough competition whenever elections are held. Not only does it have the like of Shah Mehmodo Qureshi, the serving Prime Minister Syed Yousuf
Raza Gillani also has his constituency there coupled with Javed Hashmi, a Muslim League-Nawaz stalwart.

Interestingly, the three have intense rivalry between them, even though Qureshi and Gillani were affiliated with the same party while they simultaneously served as the foreign minister and prime minister. Javed Hashmi was fielded against Qureshi from the
same constituency in 2008 elections; a move that might have immensely displeased Qureshi.

Nonetheless, Qureshi wants to forget the past and move ahead. But his first objective, as the news reported widely reported, was to oust the Yousuf Raza Gillani from Multan in the next elections. For that to happen, Qureshi has to ally with a party which
has roots and which can offer him considerable and reliable support.

That support can only come from PML-N. But the meeting on Tuesday did not offer anything tangible in this regard as Qureshi preferred avoiding the questions on the future. Imran Khan is expected to turn up in Ghotki on 27th November for a rally where Qureshi
too is expected to show up. Only then shall we see where the wind blows.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=4429

Posted by Sajjad Hussain on Nov 22 2011. Filed under Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry