ISLAMABAD  -  Former president Asif Ali Zardari has not ruled out a meeting or telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on the issue of the delimitation of the constituencies in the coming days after the premier sent a request through opposition leader Khurshid Shah, The Nation has learnt. 

Close aides of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman said Zardari was “considering” Abbasi’s request and had “not rejected it yet”. 

“Khurshid Shah has conveyed PM Abbasi’s request to Asif Ali Zardari and he [Zardari] had promised to consider it and take a decision after consultation with the party. The meeting or telephonic conversation has not been ruled out as of today,” a close aide told The Nation. 

Earlier, on Wednesday, Khurshid Shah said PM Abbasi held a meeting with him and had desired to meet Zardari or Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to seek the PPP’s support for the bill on the delimitations in the Senate. 

“I met the PM for 10-12 minutes and he requested me to arrange a meeting with Zardari or Bilawal. The PM is ready to speak over the telephone, if they are not available for a physical meeting. I have told him that I can only convey a message and cannot help further,” the PPP leader told the journalists here. 

Zardari’s close aide said that the request had been shared with the PPP co-chairman and consultations had been initiated to “finalise a decision”. 

“We will soon inform the government about our decision. It could be [a] ‘yes’ or [a] ‘no’ but so far we have kept the request for consideration,” he added. 

Both Zardari and Bilawal have shown no soft corner for the PML-N in the recent past citing “betrayals” by the ruling party on a number of occasions.  

Last month, Zardari told his close aides that the PPP would stand with the institutions amid ousted premier Nawaz Sharif’s struggle to prove his innocence in the corruption references. 

Bilawal, the PPP chairman, too had snubbed Nawaz Sharif after his disqualification saying he would not even pick Sharif’s telephone call let alone support him.  

He had said the PPP would not protect Sharif as he had always stabbed in the back after returning to power.  

“This time I will not even attend his phone call. I will not sign any new reconciliation agreement with him,” he asserted. 

Sharif was disqualified on July 28th by the Supreme Court for hiding assets.  

The ousted PM is now facing corruption charges filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau. 

In the recent weeks, Nawaz Sharif had indirectly sought Zardari’s help to come out of the crisis but did not receive any positive response.  

The PPP co-chairman later publically refused to help the embattled PML-N leader. 

This week, the PPP presented a bill in the National Assembly to amend the Elections Bill 2017 but the PML-N voted it out.  

The amendment was designed to remove Sharif as the PML-N chief, citing his disqualification by the top court. 

The government had passed the original bill from the Senate taking advantage of some rival lawmakers’ absence. Then they got it passed from the National Assembly and President Mamnoon Hussain later signed it into a law. 

The law allows any person to become a member or chief of a political party doing away with the condition that he or she should be qualified to become a member of the parliament. 

Khurshid Shah said Nawaz Sharif had lost the right to remain active in politics. “He has not only been disqualified as the PM but also from politics,” he added. 

The opposition leader said the PPP knew its amendment bill would not be passed by the National Assembly keeping in view the PML-N’s majority.  

“It was a matter of principle so we presented the bill. We have demonstrated our will to reject disqualified people as party presidents or office bearers,” he said. 

Shah said that the PML-N was facing disintegration. “The government had lost its grip. Rangers are even stopping the interior minister,” he contended.