Fawad Chaudhry claimed on Sunday that four PTI leaders had written a letter around three months ago, sharing their stance that the political temperature in the country should be brought down and efforts should be made for PTI founder Imran Khan’s release, who has been in jail since 2023.
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 at a hospital in Lahore on Thursday to convince him to join their campaign, but Qureshi is said to have rebuffed their move.
However, Fawad claimed 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 around three months ago and shared their stance.
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. Fawad also stressed only Qureshi, Rashid, Ejaz, Rasheed, and another PTI leader Omar 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”. “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.”
Fawad also said that “we have been requesting the [NA] speakers, Senate chairperson and two to four senior ministers. […] We will request them to make the first move. “And even I can talk to Imran Khan. But I will not be allowed [to meet him],” he added.
Earlier in the day, Imran Ismail – 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 Rana 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 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.