LAHORE:
Senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday clarified that former PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry had visited him in the hospital only to inquire about his health, and stressed that he remained subject to the party’s official policy.
Qureshi, who was acquitted in multiple cases on May 9, while several other PTI leaders were sentenced, made these comments during an informal interaction with journalists inside a courtroom. The former foreign minister is currently lodged in Lahore’s Kot Lakpat jail in connection with other cases.
Chaudhry and other former PTI leaders had met Qureshi at a hospital in November, where, they said, the latter had supported their efforts to lower the political temperature.
Responding to a question about Chaudhry’s meeting with him, Qureshi said they both belonged to the same political party. He explained that Chaudhry first visited him in the hospital to check on his health and then went to his house as a guest. “You don’t ask a guest why they came to see you,” he said.
Asked whether he supported Chaudhry’s proposed National Dialogue Committee, Qureshi said that as PTI vice-chairman, he could not deviate from the party’s official stance.
However, he added that the country’s stakeholders needed to reflect on how to resolve the current political deadlock. “After resistance, reconciliation ultimately follows,” he said, highlighting that meaningful dialogue was the only way for the country to move forward.
Qureshi noted that PTI founder Imran Khan had authorized opposition leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai to handle the negotiations, adding that the latter was in a better position to decide the future course of action. “We are in jail and have limited access to information,” he said.
Commenting on regional issues, Qureshi said Pakistan had provided significant assistance to Afghanistan in the past, but stressed that Islamabad’s demand that Afghan soil not be used against Pakistan was legitimate.
He added that Afghanistan’s prosperity and stability were closely linked to Pakistan and said Kabul would need to maintain positive relations with Islamabad if it sought long-term stability. “We want peace and Afghanistan should support us against terrorism,” he said.
Qureshi further stated that the situation along the border with Iran was currently under control.
Referring to regional security, he said Pakistan had defeated India in combat and that “God granted us the honour”, although he warned that the threat from India had not yet fully subsided.
