JUI-F chief refuses to visit Aiwan-e-Sadr to meet President, PM.  Bilawal holds long meeting with Fazl.  PM, President discuss political situation.

ISLAMABAD  -  PM Shehbaz Sharif held three meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday on evolving political situation with regard to the 26th constitutional amendment.  According to sources, PM Shehbaz visited Aiwan-e-sadr three times and consulted President Asif Ali Zardari on the constitutional amendment draft and discussed objections by JUI-F and PTI. JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman remains centre of all political meetings.

However in the 3rd meeting between PM and president, Maulana Fazlur Rehman was also invited but he didn’t go to Aiwan-e-sadr at eleventh hour.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari who met Maulana Fazlur Rehman and pm Shehbaz Sharif earlier held long meeting with his father president Asif Ali Zardari at Aiwan-e-sadr on Saturday and apprised him of his talks with different political leaders on constitutional amendment package and amendments made in the draft.

In a latest development Maulana Fazlur Rehman in yet another meeting with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told him that he has to meet PTI leaders on Sunday therefore he and his party would not cast his vote on Saturday night in both houses of the Parliament.

Also, Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari along with a delegation called on Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif at the PM House on Saturday. During the meeting, the two sides discussed the overall political situation of the country.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar, Pakistan People’s Party leaders Sherry Rehman, Syed Naveed Qamar and Murtaza Wahab were also present in the meeting. The ruling coalition appeared desperate on Saturday to get the controversial constitutional amendment bill passed from the parliament as it made last ditch efforts to convince Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlure Rehman to vote for it.

The residence of Maulana remained the centre of political activities in the federal capital for another day as both the leadership of ruling and opposition parties kept on making visits to it more than once.

As the final round between the multi-party ruling coalition and the opposition has begun over the constitutional package, the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) sought more time to make the consultation process broader following its leaders’ meeting with the former prime minister Imran Khan in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail. The government sees the move as a delaying tactic to drag on the issue beyond October 25 when incumbent Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa would retire.

For the embracement of the ruling coalition, it kept on changing timings for sessions of both the Senate and the National Assembly throughout the day, which were primarily called at 11 am  and 3 pm respectively. All this showed frustration within ranks of the government that it plans to table the amendment at earliest but facing some hurdles in its smooth passage.

Though the government is giving the impression that it has managed the required two-thirds majority to get the constitutional amendment passed, the ground reality tells a different story. It seems that the coalition faces difficulties to meet the number without the votes of JUI-F.

If the Senate is taken as an example, there is a possibility that five senators from the opposition would vote in favour of the bill by crossing the floor. But even then, the government is short of the magic figure of 64.

PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan told reporters that the party’s two senators including Senator Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur and Senator Faisal Saleem Rahman have apparently changed their loyalties. Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal also revealed that his party’s two senators are missing, indicating that they might vote for the amendment. One senator of JUI-F is also missing, giving rise to speculations that he will also vote for the bill violating the party direction.

Earlier in the day, Chairman PTI Gohar Ali addressing a press conference here said that they have decided to broaden the consultative process over the constitutional amendment bill in the light of the instructions of jailed leader Imran Khan. “We will continue our engagement with Maulana Fazlur Rehman on the desire of the party chief,” he said.

At least five PTI leaders including Slaman Akram Raja, Ali Zafar, Hamid Raza and Gohar himself met Khan in jail in a send attempt on the day. In the morning, jail authorities had not cleared the names of Raja and Raza for the meeting.

In his presser, Gohar said the former prime minister has sought a meeting with four party leaders including all three opposition leaders in the NA, Senate and Punjab Assembly and Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur for further consultations. He said Khan has taken our engagement with Maulana as a positive step. He has appreciated the JUI-F chief’s role and hoped that Maulana would stand by them in our struggle for the independence of the judiciary, Gohar added.

The chairman PTI said Imran Khan was not even aware about developments on the proposed constitutional amendment for the last two weeks as he has been kept in solitary confinement and deprived of all facilities.

Khan is not being provided with facilities of newspapers, TV and an exercise machine, he said. Our leader told us in the 45-minutes that electricity of his prison cell has been severed for the last five days and he is not allowed to come out of the lockup for more than two and a half hours daily — allegations that Adiala Jail authorities have rejected in a statement.

“We condemn in strong words the maltreatment being given to Khan saheb,” he said, adding that the politician was in high spirits. “We demand that Khan should be given all facilities to which he is entitled to,” he said.