LAHORE: PPP Co-chair­man and former president Asif Ali Zardari continued his political meetings for the third day here on Sunday. The most surprising engagement of Mr Zardari was a luncheon meeting at Bilawal House with leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q.

Matters relating to the Islamabad sit-in and possibility of mid-term elections came under discussion.

“We discussed all current issues, including mid-term polls, and considered various aspects of the national political scenario,” PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi told reporters after the meeting.

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“Mr Zardari wants continuation of the democratic process and that there should be no unconstitutional or undemocratic change in the system. We told him that we are also in favour of continuation of the political process,” Chaudhry Shujaat said.

Ex-president and PML-Q leaders discuss snap polls and sit-ins

The PPP leader, he said, wanted political forces to work together to save the system.

The PML-Q has been actively supporting and participating in the sit-ins and some allege that the Chaudhry brothers were behind the so-called London plan.

Chaudhry Shujaat said everyone, including the PPP leadership, was worried about the political situation because the economy was being adversely affected and the working class was the worst victim.

Answering a question about the possibility of mid-term elections in near future, he said he could not say anything at the moment, but added that he saw resolution of the current political crisis soon.

In the evening, Mr Zardari met at the Defence residence of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani a group of PPP leaders, particularly those who are opposed to the policy of ‘friendly opposition’ being pursued by the party leadership.

However, Mr Gilani said it was a meeting between two families and had nothing to do with politics.

Mr Zardari, who had arrived in Punjab on Friday, will celebrate Eidul Azha in Lahore.

A PPP leader who did not want to be named said the former president had come to Lahore with the main objective of ensuring maximum participation from Punjab in the Oct 18 Karachi public meeting to be addressed by Bilawal Bhutto.

The massive gathering attracted by the PTI at its recent meetings in Punjab and one in Karachi seems to have unnerved the PPP leadership, particularly Mr Zardari who, according to the PPP leader, does not want to see his son belittled in the number game.

Mr Zardari, he said, aspired to play the role of a statesman and hand over the party’s charge to his son.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2014