On Sunday, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), visited his cousin, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Parvez Elahi, in Lahore Camp Jail.
Chaudhry Salik, Shujaat’s son, and Chaudhry Wajahat, his brother, were reportedly present at the meeting as well.
They discussed the current political climate in addition to Elahi’s health.
The medical board also visited Elahi at Camp Jail for an examination before the meeting. Drs. Amir Hussain Bandesha and Abdul Basit were on the team.
Elahi has been detained by the law enforcement agency since the month of June. Soon after a court-approved his release, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested him again in connection with a new case.
In an indication of warming relations between the hitherto inseparable cousins, Shujaat and Elahi met in Lahore Camp Jail last month.
After Elahi, a former top leader of the PML-Q, defected to the PTI in March, two months after the PTI planned to dissolve the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies while the party was in control, the two publicly clashed.
Despite a government crackdown and a subsequent huge departure of leaders from the erstwhile ruling party, Elahi is one of the PTI leaders who is sticking with the party.
Meanwhile, four prominent members of the ruling coalition’s PML-N and PPP have gathered in Dubai to discuss strategy, sparking speculation that the coalition may undergo a change in the coming days.
It’s safe to assume that a political storm is brewing, given the confluence of PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and party’s senior vice president Maryam Nawaz, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, and his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in the city.
