PTI estranged leader Jahangir Tareen will meet former president and PPP supremo Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi next week and may leave the PTI to join PPP, Shehla Raza said on Tuesday. The PPP leader said Tareen had met Makhdoom Ahmed Mahmood, following which he will meet the former president in the port city. “I think he will leave PTI and join PPP along with his aides during the meeting,” she said.
“If such a thing happens, neither will Buzdar [remain in government], nor will Niazi,” she added. However later shed removed her tweet. Meanwhile Jahangir Tareen refuted reports of his alleged meetings with leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) aimed at joining the latter in a bid to send his party’s governments in Punjab and Centre packing.
Tareen and his son Ali last week obtained bail orders in three different FIRs registered against them by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) over allegations of fraudulently misappropriating shareholder’s money, company’s money and committing money laundering. Adviser to Prime Minister on Interior and Accountability Shahzad Akbar had said last week that Tareen, once considered to be the closest confidante of Imran Khan, will be prosecuted as per law, adding no one will be given an NRO. Meanwhile, the FIA has once again summoned Tareen and his son Ali on April 9, with the former being called in for two cases, while the latter in relation to only one case. The FIA said it has sent notice to Tareen to answer charges of financial fraud and if he fails to appear in the investigation agency’s Lahore office this time, it will be considered that he has no concrete answer for the charges against him.
Call it an overplay of emotions or a deep-running grievance in PTI’s Lahori den against the headquarters, MNA Raja Riaz has given credence to Tareen’s cries of political victimisation. After being pinpointed by the accountability agencies in the mega sugar scandal that shook Pakistan to its core last year, the party architect–who had bankrolled its election campaign in 2018–had let the cat out of the bag. Taking jabs at Shahbaz Gill for relieving him of some task force (how could he be ousted from a post he had never formally held) or naming-and-shaming PMO’s Secretary Azam Khan and former finance minister Asad Umar for orchestrating his dire straits, Mr Tareen is ready to twist his knife in.
Though not raising a ruckus, Tareen seems confident enough. With a quiet smirk on his face, he keeps underlining his deep roots in the PTI and how he engineered the party as it stands today, using his “blood and sweat.” The friendship chorus continues, but now, there are guised “advises” to let him remain a party friend attached. Judging by his soon-to-be-held meeting with the PPP co-chairman Asif Asli Zardari, Tareen is most likely exploring all options to stay as politically relevant as possible. While he has since then refuted all such claims, Mr Tareen is prudent enough to not let a chip on his shoulder affect the way he plays his cards. Any such affiliation would be akin to a wounded lion on a prowl. Ergo, it would be very interesting to see how this saga develops.
Shafaqna Pakistan
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