Imran Khan’s party chief minister meets PM Shehbaz Sharif

Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province chief minister, belonging to the jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party on Wednesday met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who assured him of addressing concerns regarding funds and also committed to facilitating a meeting with incarcerated Khan.

Ali Amin Gandapur told the media after meeting with Sharif that the discussion focused on law and order, public issues, and the economic challenges faced by the province, signifying a thaw between the two opposing parties.

This is the first meeting of the two leaders after they took charge of their respective posts earlier last week. The development comes a day after, citing security reasons, Pakistan’s Punjab province government – led by Maryam Nawaz of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), an arch-rival of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) – on Tuesday imposed a two-week ban on all public visits, meetings and interviews at the high-security Adiala Jail at Rawalpindi.

Khan, who has been imprisoned at the Adiala Jail since last August, and his party have alleged that the PML-N and its coalition partners along with the powerful establishment have stolen its mandate in the February 8 polls.

When asked if the two had any discussion about Khan, Gandapur said he told the premier that a meeting with Khan was needed to discuss the upcoming Senate election. “The prime minister committed to making the meeting possible in the Adiala Jail and ensuring a smooth electoral process,” he said.

Gandapur, who had last week refused to meet Shehbaz Sharif when the latter visited Peshawar, sought to reject the impression that he wilfully avoided the meeting by saying that he was not in the city then.

He showed satisfaction over his first formal meeting with the prime minister as he said that the talks had been held on critical matters, and the Prime Minister had assured full cooperation.

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who accompanied Gandapur during the media interaction, said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed the Finance Ministry to engage in talks with KP officials to settle the issue of payment of dues.

He said the formation of a joint team comprising federal and provincial representatives was proposed to address provincial issues in collaboration.

Gandapur is considered a hawkish PTI leader and his meeting with the prime minister is an apparent shift in the policy of the party to cooperate with the federal government.

Earlier, PTI refused to accept the government at the Centre after alleging ‘Mother of All Rigging’ in the election held on February 8 and threatened to protest it.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)