KARACHI: Imran Ismail — one of the three ex-PTI leaders who visited the party’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi at a hospital in Lahore on Thursday — insisted on Sunday 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 today 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.
“Our initiative — undertaken by Mehmood Moulvi, Fawad Chaudhry, and myself — is not a conspiracy. It is a conscious effort to move Pakistan’s politics away from confrontation and back toward reconciliation. The politics of defiance and endless agitation has brought PTI only shrinking space, arrests, and exhaustion. It’s time to pause, reflect, and rebuild.”
He claimed that the three of them — who were among several party members left the PTI following a crackdown on the party in the aftermath of May 9 protests — had “privately consulted a number of PTI stalwarts. Almost all admitted that confrontation has failed and that reconciliation is the only way forward.”
“When we met Chaudhry Ijaz in Kot Lakhpat Jail and Shah Mehmood Qureshi at PKLI (Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute), both — while firmly standing with Khan — agreed that the stalemate must end. They sought normal political breathing space, not surrender,” Ismail maintained.
Qureshi has been indicted in multiple cases pertaining to the May 9, 2023 riots and has remained behind bars since August 2023. He has been hospitalised at PKLI for gallbladder stone complications, his daughter said on Friday.
Ismail further stated in the post: “Unfortunately, communication gaps, fear, and the constant social-media heat have blocked any honest conversation within PTI. Meanwhile, self-proclaimed anchors sitting abroad have made a business out of fuelling hostility and confusion, keeping divisions alive for personal gain.”
He went on to say that internationally, “Field Marshal Asim Muneer’s growing diplomatic stature has reshaped perceptions of Pakistan. The expectation that foreign powers would automatically align behind Imran Khan did not materialise. The world sees a strong, stable Pakistan — and that strength comes only through political stability at home.”
“Let it also be said: if any PTI leader believes that continuing agitation and confrontation is the right path, he should come forward and convince the rest of us who think otherwise. Debate is welcome — but blind confrontation cannot be a permanent political strategy.
“Our effort is independent, sincere, and driven purely by conscience. We want normal politics to return, institutions to function, and the temperature to come down.
If reconciliation is considered betrayal, so be it. We are thinking from the heart — for PTI’s survival and Pakistan’s stability,“ he added.
Later, Fawad also posted on X that “our formula” included Imran and excluded “snakes” in the PTI. “It is moving towards implementation,” he added.
Political outreach efforts
Ismail, Moulvi and Fawad visited Qureshi at the hospital, ostensibly to convince the incarcerated party vice chairman to join their ‘release Imran Khan campaign’ — a move that was rebuffed by Qureshi.
According to his lawyer Mudassar, the three ex-PTI leaders managed to gain access to Qureshi on Thursday when he was alone in his room.
“Shah Mahmood Qureshi was surprised to see them and immediately asked the police on duty to call his lawyer, who had left just a minute ago, and tell him some ‘guests’ had arrived,” Mudassar earlier said, adding by the time he got back, the ex-PTI leaders had already gone. He said the visitors stayed only a little over 10 minutes and left without any political discussion with Qureshi.
A report quoted sources as saying that the three former PTI leaders also attempted to give the impression that another ex-party leader, Asad Umar, was also on board with their decision to launch an outreach campaign for Imran’s release. Umar, however, said he was not part of this group. He said he advised the trio against the hospital visit, as it would create friction in the party, while Qureshi’s family would also be disturbed.
Similarly, another former PTI leader, Ali Haider Zaidi, has also refuted reports of him “planning a political relaunch”, saying that he had no plans of doing so anytime soon.
His clarification came after Daily Ausaf and The Express Tribune reported, citing sources, that senior politicians who were part of the PTI’s “old leadership” were planning to relaunch a political movement calling for Imran’s release.
On the other hand, Fawad, in a video message, said the trio of former PTI leaders were trying to bring the political temperature down in the country and make the release of Imran and his wife, Bushra Bibi, possible, besides getting the right of bail for political prisoners acknowledged in the country.
He said they were trying to create an environment in which a dialogue could take place. “The political temperature can come down in the country only if the PTI takes one step back and the government takes a step forward.”
He claimed that he had also met Ejaz Chaudhry and other leaders and was happy that they too agreed that the political temperature should come down in the country. He said his group members would meet PML-N senior ministers as well as Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
Qureshi’s lawyer, however, termed the remarks by Fawad “deception” and said the former PTI leader did not even visit the incarcerated PTI leadership in the Kot Lakhpat jail, either on Thursday or Friday.
He said PTI leaders Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed and Omer Sarfraz Cheema were united and standing by Imran Khan, who had repeatedly announced that he would not make any deals with the establishment or the government and would fight his cases on legal grounds.
Besides Qureshi, who is expected to undergo a surgical procedure for gallbladder stones next week, Omer Sarfraz Cheema and Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed are also hospitalised.
