LAHORE- Punjab Governor Ch Muhammad Sarwar called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the old Lahore Airport on Tuesday prior to latter’s departure for Islamabad.
Ch Sarwar apprised the Prime Minister about his Monday’s meeting with Dr Qadri which took place inside the Emirates plane.
Nawaz Sharif reportedly appreciated Sarwar’s role in defusing the tension and convincing Qadri to come out of the plane alongwith his supporters.
Sources said that Nawaz Sharif assigned Ch Sarwar yet another task to calm down the cleric and to persuade him to defer his plan to bring about revolution for the time being as the country could not afford politics of agitation at a time when Pakistan Army was engaged in the war against militants and major cities were likely to face the blowback.
In the light of discussion with the Prime Minister, the Punjab Governor rushed to the Minhaaj Secretariat in the evening to convey Prime Minister’s message to Dr Qadri.
Ch Sarwar reportedly tried to convince his host to review his strategy as the time was not ripe for such adventures. Sources said that though he (Qadri) fell short of making any commitment with Sarwar in this regard, but his plan to hold rallies to express solidarity with soldiers fighting in North Waziristan shows that he may alter his future course of action.
It was in the backdrop of these parleys that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered his IGP later in the evening to provide foolproof security to Dr Qadri.