Sheikh Rashid calls on Zardari

Awaz Apni ISLAMABAD: In what could be described as a smart political move of the Pakistan People’s Party to search for new allies, a bitter foe of the party, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, on Friday held an important meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari. The luncheon meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was held at the presidency in which political affairs of the country came under discussion.Sheikh Rashid was once a diehard supporter of Nawaz Sharif but later turned his loyalties to ex-president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf and remained close to him till his defeat in the February 18, 2008, elections from both the constituencies of Rawalpindi, where he had remained undefeated since 1985. After his humiliating defeat, he formed the Awami Muslim League, and kept his politics alive through the electronic media. Sources said it was a one-on-one meeting that continued even during the lunch that was arranged for him. Though there was no official word, as the presidency remained tight-lipped over the meeting, yet sources told Geo News that the meeting focused on political affairs in the country with special reference to the Punjab government’s possible action against the district governments. Sources in the presidency said President Zardari stressed the need for political reconciliation among the political parties. When contacted, Sheikh Rashid confirmed his meeting with the president and said that it was his first-ever meeting with Asif Zardari.“It was my first luncheon meeting, so I preferred to listen to him (Zardari) most of the time on his point of view on different issues about what his government was doing,” he said. When asked if he discussed politics with the president, Rashid said, “Of course, politics. We are not judo-karate players”. When asked if he was picking up some task, he said: “I am not going to say anything.” When asked about what he told Zardari on the political situation, Sheikh Rashid said he advised the president that it was better for both the parties, the PPP and the PML-N, to go along in the Punjab or both will fail. However, there are strong speculations that the PPP might shortly conclude an agreement with Sheikh Rashid for nominating him as the party candidate in the upcoming Senate elections, some other sources revealed to Geo News. “There could be an assignment of some other nature, maybe diplomatic,” said the sources.