Lahore, November 2, 2025: Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Ismail on Sunday claimed that incarcerated PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi agreed that Pakistan’s political deadlock must end — a claim swiftly rejected by Qureshi’s lawyer, who insisted that no political discussion took place during a recent hospital visit.
Ismail was among three former PTI leaders — including Fawad Chaudhry and Mehmood Moulvi — who met Qureshi at the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI) in Lahore on Thursday. Qureshi has been hospitalised for gallbladder stone complications since last week.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Ismail said that the trio’s “political outreach” had been wrongly portrayed as a “minus formula” aimed at weakening Imran Khan.
“Let me be clear: there is no PTI without Imran Khan. He is its founder, face, and force,” Ismail wrote.
“Our initiative is not a conspiracy but an effort to move politics from confrontation to reconciliation. The politics of endless agitation has only brought shrinking space, arrests, and exhaustion.”
He added that the three had privately consulted multiple PTI figures who agreed that “reconciliation is the only way forward.”
“When we met Chaudhry Ijaz in Kot Lakhpat Jail and Shah Mahmood Qureshi at PKLI, both — while standing with Khan — agreed that the stalemate must end,” he claimed.
However, Qureshi’s lawyer Rana Mudassar dismissed the assertion, saying the visit was “surprise and uninvited.”
“Shah Mahmood Qureshi was surprised to see them and immediately asked the police to call me. By the time I returned, they had left. No political discussion took place,” he told reporters.
Mudassar added that Qureshi remains fully committed to PTI’s stance and has not agreed to any reconciliation initiative.
Meanwhile, Fawad Chaudhry, in a separate post on X, said the trio’s “formula includes Imran Khan and excludes snakes,” claiming their efforts toward political dialogue were “moving towards implementation.”
He added that the group was working to “reduce political temperatures” and create conditions for dialogue between PTI and the government, asserting that both sides must take “one step each” for progress.
Contradicting these claims, PTI leaders including Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed, and Omer Sarfraz Cheema reiterated their loyalty to Imran Khan, saying he had made it clear that no deal with the establishment or the government was under consideration.
Qureshi, who has been indicted in multiple May 9 riot cases, remains under treatment at PKLI and is expected to undergo surgery for gallbladder stones next week. Other detained PTI leaders, including Cheema and Rasheed, are also hospitalised.
