Playing mediator: JI chief expected to meet Imran

LAHORE: Leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) are expected to meet at 9 pm Monday night at Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence in Lahore. Sources in the Jamaat-i-Islami told our correspondent that party chief Sirajul Haq will meet the PTI chairman at his Zaman Park residence shortly after his arrival in Lahore tonight. JI is a PTI coalition partner in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, but it has yet to announce support for Imran Khan’s party in its ‘Azadi March’ on August 14. The party supports the PTI on their stance against electoral rigging, said the source. He said that JI chief is of the view that Imran Khan and his party have the democratic right to peaceful protest, which should be not derail democracy in any way. Leaders from across the political spectrum are scrambling to try to defuse political tensions that have come to head in the days running up to Imran Khan’s ‘Azadi’ march. Last week, JI emir Sirajul Haq separately met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Ahmed Shah and PTI chief Imran Khan. “The main purpose of our meeting today is to ensure that we have a peaceful Independence Day,” he had told reporters after meeting Mr Khan at his Bani Gala residence in the capital. Haq termed the PTI’s call for a long march “justified” but also said that the JI would not support any move to dissolve the KP assembly. A JI source told DawnNews today that the party will continue to play “the role of reconciliation” to defuse tensions. He said that the JI emir will also put the government’s stance in front of the PTI chief during their meeting tonight. The meeting could not be confirmed from PTI sources.