ISLAMABAD-With the political impasse showing no signs of settlement, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has initiated contact with former president and Pakistan People’s Party leader Asif Ali Zardari.

The premier called Zardari and invited the PPP co-chairman for a lunch on Saturday which the former president accepted.

Senior leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the PPP will accompany their party heads at the lunch where they are expected to discuss the prevailing political crisis in the country.

The meeting will take place in Raiwind for which Zardari will depart from Karachi tomorrow.

The two leaders will meet at a time when the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) have been holding sit-ins and protests in Islamabad for the eighth consecutive day.

Meetings were ongoing at Bilawal House where Zardari had arrived late Thursday and news of the lunch came after the PPP co-chairman met with Opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah.