Daily Times

Former president and Pakistan People’s Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari spent a couple of days in the federal capital where he held ‘important’ meetings in ‘power circles’ apart from interaction with political leaders of his own party as well as other opposition parties.

Despite serious health issues, Asif Ali Zardari has preferred to get engaged with leadership of other opposition parties to secure maximum seats for his party in the upcoming Senate elections, voting for which is scheduled for March 3. “The three-day sojourn to Islamabad was for the same purpose as he held some important political meetings in the federal capital,” sources privy to Zardari’s engagements told Daily Times. In view of the health condition of Zardari, the aircraft of a private group was used to make this politically important sojourn possible, sources added.

During his stay, the PPP co-chairman not only discussed the future course of action with the party leaders but also held a number of meetings with PML-N and JUI-F leadership to discuss the strategy for upcoming Senate election.

Sources said one of the major agenda point during these meetings was to garner enough support for PPP candidate Yousaf Raza Gilani whose nomination papers were accepted by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday after the scrutiny process.

Asif Zardari is of the view that entire opposition will benefit from supporting Gilani in the Senate elections since the opposition’s victory on this all-important seat will be like a vote of no-confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Sources said Zardari also had a telephonic talk with PML-N leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Senate elections. Reports said Nawaz Sharif offered full support to Zardari for Yousaf Raza Gilani, the PDM’s joint candidate for the Senate polls from Islamabad.

Apart from Gilani, Abdul Hafeez Sheikh of PTI, Tariq Fazal Chaudhary, Syed Muhammad Ali Bukhari and Fareed Rehman are in the race for general seat from Islamabad.