LAHORE: Amid a looming threat of a no-trust motion and an apparent bonhomie developing between opposition parties and key government ally PML-Q, Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to pay a visit to the Chaudhrys of Gujrat on Tuesday during his day-long Lahore visit.

However, the situation is far from clear, as PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Monday disclosed he had asked PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif a couple of questions in their recent meeting but was still awaiting answers, Dawn has learnt. “We asked Shehbaz Sharif some questions during a discussion on the proposed no-confidence movement, but the answers are still awaited,” he said during his meeting with a six-member Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) delegation led by its emir Sirajul Haq.

The PML-Q — a major government ally in both Punjab and the Centre — has assumed much more importance since the opposition parties stepped up efforts to dislodge the government.

Premier to meet PML-Q leadership today

The PML-N approached the PML-Q earlier this month after 14 years. PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl president Maulana Fazlur Rehman and government ally Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s leaders also recently visited the PML-Q.

On Monday when the JI delegation visited the residence of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat in Lahore to see Mr Hussain, PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi was not present.

Sources told Dawn PML-Q and JI leaders discussed issues ranging from the current political situation to unbridled inflation and Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir.

Both parties also discussed the opposition’s no-confidence move against the PM.

The PML-Q leaders told the delegation that leaders of opposition parties had no concrete plan.

Amid a charged political scenario, Prime Minister Imran Khan is also expected to meet the Chaudhry brothers on Tuesday (today) during his day-long Lahore visit.

According to opposition’s claims, the PML-Q was already criticising the PTI-led government for apparently failing to control galloping inflation.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2022