Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif holds icebreaker meeting with opposition PTI leader | Political News

The meeting was the first sign that the PTI and Sharif’s PMLN parties were willing to accept their differences.

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan’s newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader on Wednesday, the first to defuse tensions between staunch political rivals after bitter elections in February. This was an attempt.

Less than two weeks later, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief minister and PTI leader Ali Amin Gandapur had refused to take part in Sharif’s swearing-in ceremony.

But on Wednesday, both Gandapur and Sharif appeared to have reconciled.

A statement released by Prime Minister Sharif’s office said the federal government would implement all “genuine” demands of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Gandapur said the prime minister assured him of working together for the “upliftment of the people”.

“I also told him that he needs to engage with them. [former Prime Minister] “Imran Khan has asked us to resolve political issues, to which he has responded positively and said that talks will be possible.”

The PTI claimed that there had been electoral fraud in favor of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party, and staged protests demanding a recount of the votes. The party challenged the results of dozens of constituencies in court.

Khan’s party was stripped of its election symbol days before the election, forced to field candidates as independents, and its campaign faced a crackdown from authorities. Mr. Khan was sentenced to a long prison sentence in August last year and has been in prison since days before the election. Khan claimed the conviction was politically motivated.

Despite the hurdles, PTI candidates won the most seats with 93 seats, followed by the PMLN with 75 seats and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in third place with 54 seats. Sharif became prime minister on March 4 after his PMLN forged an alliance with the PPP and other smaller parties.

“The country needs to move forward.”

Analysts say the meeting is unlikely to lower the political temperature given that the PTI continues to agitate against the election results.

Political commentator Ahmed Ijaz said it would be a wise move for the PTI to meet with the prime minister and discuss relief for the province and its leaders, but the party does not want to work too closely with the PMLN. He said there would be no one.

“Both these parties, especially the PTI, operate on opposite extremes. Rather, they would want to maintain this extremist, anti-PMLN position. But to reduce tensions and give the impression of cooperating. Therefore, it is in the interest of the PMLN to try to bring the PTI to the table and have discussions,” he told Al Jazeera.

“PTI’s entire politics exists on a narrative of opposition to coalition partners such as the PMLN and PPP. Its distance from other mainstream parties is what gives PTI its unique identity.”

But Zaigham Khan, another political analyst, said the fact that the PTI decided to hold talks with Sharif was proof that the party was maturing.

“PTI understands that it has to govern provinces facing financial difficulties, but it cannot do so without help from the central government. “We know that there is a place where we can do politics and even apply political pressure by doing well there,” he told Al Jazeera.

When the PTI seized power nationwide in August 2018, relations between Mr. Khan and the military were cordial. But after four years, relations soured. Mr. Khan replaced Mr. Sharif as prime minister following a no-confidence vote in parliament.

After Khan was briefly arrested on May 9 last year, thousands of PTI workers stormed the streets across the country and destroyed military installations. In retaliation, the government arrested PTI leaders and thousands of party workers. Many are still in prison.

Zaigham, who is based in Islamabad, said the PTI needed to find a way out of the establishment. This is a euphemism used by Pakistan’s military, which Mr. Khan has accused of orchestrating his ouster from power. The military has consistently denied these allegations.

“The country needs to move forward and it cannot do that without giving space to the party that gets the most votes and there are signs that the system recognizes that. -They are in power in Pakhtankhwa province,” he added.