ISLAMABAD  -  In a major development, the disgruntled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Khan Tareen has got some assurance that Prime Minister Imran Khan will meet him and other estranged party lawmakers to hear their grievances. 

Tareen has cancelled an Iftiar dinner arranged for today (Wednesday) for some those lawmakers of the ruling party, who had earlier rallied for his support, at his residence in Lahore after getting an assurance from Islamabad that PM is ready to meet him,  said Abdul Haye Dasti, an adviser to chief minister Punjab and ruling party MPA.  “It appears that the ice has started melting between PM Imran Khan and his former close associate Tareen,” Dasti, PTI MPA from Muzaffargarh, further told The Nation. 

Dasti is among over two dozen lawmakers of ruling party that had openly dared to show their support for Tareen after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), last month, booked him in two different cases on charges of money laundering and fraud in connection with the sugar scandal. 

The move had disturbed the PTI which only has thin majority in the National and Punjab assemblies. 

Tareen who was once considered a powerful politician within PTI had alleged that he was being targeted in the on-going investigations regarding sugar scam and a conspiracy has been hatched against him. 

Earlier this month, over two dozen estranged lawmakers of PTI had written to PM Imran Khan seeking meeting with him to hear their reservations regarding FIA’s action against the party leader Tareen. They also sought “impartial” investigations against him.  

Dasti said that the letter signed by the party lawmakers, including members of National and Punjab assemblies, belonging to Punjab had been handed over to PTI MNA from Faisalabad Raja Riaz Ahmed. He later had given the same to Awn Chaudhry, special coordinator to CM Punjab on political affairs. 

The lawmakers in the letter said that they earlier had met in Lahore only to “strength” the party as Jahangir Taren “is a party asset and his services for PTI are unforgettable.”  

“We believe that his name and reputation is being targeted in the name of investigation. We believe that this is prejudiced and agenda driven activity by people who are biased against Mr Tareen,” the letter said. The lawmakers said that they believed that such people were misleading PM and “have poisoned” him against Tareen.