LAHORE: As the opposition PTI reels from the Nov 26 crackdown, party vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is in jail along with other key leaders, on Saturday advocated for national reconciliation and national consensus to achieve political stability.
In a media talk after his appearance in an anti-terrorism court in Lahore, the former foreign minister expressed the hope that politically astute people in all political parties would play a role for a national dialogue since a ban on the PTI would only complicate the situation.
Mr Qureshi requested that he be provided an opportunity to meet party founder Imran Khan so that he could present his point of view towards national reconciliation and national consensus.
The remarks by the PTI leader came amid reports that the federal government had purportedly been deliberating a ban on the former ruling party and a governor’s rule in the PTI-run Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province due to repeated ‘onslaughts’ on the federal capital by the opposition party.
Mr Qureshi cautioned that crushing PTI would not be in the interest of Pakistan and the purported plan to proscribe the party and impose a governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was sheer absurdity.
He said political leadership had no idea about the consequences of such a decision, adding that Balochistan was facing insurgency, terrorism was rising in KP, and Sindh was protesting the federal government’s approach towards the water issue.