National Assembly (NA) Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday.
Sources told the 24News TV channel that the speaker discussed with the PM parliamentary matters, his visit to Bangladesh, dialogue with the PTI and the appointment of the opposition leader in the NA.
He took the prime minister into confidence on his handshake with Indian Foreign Affairs Minister Jaishankar in Dhaka, and said that it was Shankar who had walked up to him to shake hands. “He introduced himself to me that he was the foreign minister of India,” Sadiq said, adding that the meeting lasted only six to seven seconds.
He also told PM Shehbaz that the handshake came as a surprise for him. “I remained extremely careful during my informal interaction with the Indian FM since he had to come to meet me after complete planning,” he added.
The speaker also briefed the prime minister about his meetings with the family members of the late Bangladeshi prime minister Khalida Zia, whose funeral prayers he offered in Bangladesh.
He said that his meetings with Bangladesh’s chief adviser, advisors and other leaders were held in an extremely pleasant and cordial atmosphere.
The speaker informed PM Shehbaz that the people of Bangladesh were jubilant to see the Pakistani delegation in their midst.
The prime minister congratulated him on conducting a successful visit to Bangladesh and renewed the pledge to further strengthen ties with Bangladesh in all sectors.
PM Shehbaz reminisced that he always had enjoyed talking to Bangladesh’s chief adviser. “The promotion of parliamentary relations between the two countries is imperative.”
Also on Monday, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that the opposition had not approached him for the initiation of a dialogue so far.
In an informal chat with journalists at the Parliament House in Islamabad, he said that his role in the negotiations would be merely that of a facilitator.
He informed that he had sent four letters to the chief whip for the appointment of the opposition leader in the NA, and that the process for the appointment of the opposition leader would be set in motion in the next parliamentary session following the verification of the signatures of the opposition members.
The NA speaker said that it was Indian Minister for Foreign Affairs J Shankar who walked up to him and shook hands with him in Dhaka a few days ago.
Sadiq said that he had gone to Bangladesh to offer the funeral prayers for ex-PM Khalida Zia on the instructions of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. “The people of Bangladesh warmly welcomed the Pakistani delegation.”
He said that PM Shehbaz was a sagacious and wise leader.
PTI’s chief whip meets NA speaker
Also on Monday, PTI’s chief whip Amir Dogar met with the NA speaker and requested him to speed up the process of appointment of the leader of the opposition in the assembly.
He, on the occasion, also provided to him the copy of the withdrawal of the petition filed by PTI’s Omar Ayub Khan in the Peshawar High Court.
