\n<\/p>\n
COULD something be cooking within the PTI again? Over the weekend, several old and new faces paid visits to the party\u2019s otherwise low-profile vice-chairman, ostensibly to \u2018discuss politics\u2019.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, former PTI leaders Fawad Chaudhry, Mahmood Maulvi and Imran Ismail called on Shah Mahmood Qureshi at a Lahore hospital, where the incarcerated PTI vice-chairman was recently shifted for medical treatment. It was later reported, however, that they \u2018returned empty-handed<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n A day later, PTI secretary-general Salman Akram Raja called on Mr Qureshi, with party leaders Shaukat Basra and Zaheer Babar in tow. Among other things, the \u2018current political situation\u2019 was on the agenda, party sources said. The attention around the PTI vice-chairman would have gone unnoticed, considering how little one usually hears of him in public discourse, even though Mr Qureshi, too, has been behind bars for a considerable period. However, later remarks<\/a> from the former PTI leaders put an interesting spin on the situation.<\/p>\n According to the former leaders, the present PTI leadership has completely failed to secure any relief for its jailed leaders. This includes not only Imran Khan, but other \u2018forgotten\u2019 leaders such as Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, and Omar Sarfraz Cheema, too, not to mention Mr Qureshi. The former leaders\u2019 separate statements to the media were variations on this same line. Apparently, they had visited Mr Qureshi to secure his blessings for their \u2018free Imran Khan campaign\u2019, but, according to the PTI vice-chairman\u2019s lawyer, were quickly shooed away before they could make their case.<\/p>\n The current leaders would have been understandably concerned when they met Mr Qureshi the next day, but whether or not they left reassured was not disclosed. With a senior commentator blaming Mr Khan in their column for \u2018blocking his party\u2019s path\u2019 with confrontational politics, it would appear that another attempt at \u2018minus-ing\u2019 Mr Khan may be in the works.<\/p>\n