Amidst reports of President Asif Ali Zardari directing Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to facilitate a ceasefire between the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and coalition partner Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Adviser to the P.M. Rana Sanaullah has said the situation can be resolved through direct talks between senior leaders.
According to local media, Zardari has urged Naqvi to play the role of mediator with the interior minister expected to meet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif today (Wednesday) to chart a path out of the escalating tensions between the two parties.
The rancor between the PPP and PMLN stems from the latter’s government in Punjab pushing back against the former’s calls to seek foreign aid for flood rehabilitation. The PPP has also called for Punjab to utilize the platform of the Benazir Income Support Program to distribute aid. In response, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has slammed the PPP—and by extension the Sindh government—for trying to tell her how to perform her job. She has also lamented the “pressure” used to sideline the canals project earlier this year.
The verbal back-and-forth has escalated to the National Assembly and the Senate, where PPP lawmakers have staged walkouts and refused to support any government legislation without an apology from Nawaz. The Punjab chief minister, however, has refused to apologize for “arguing the case of her province.” The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has claimed the rift is mere theatrics, with party leader Asad Qaiser urging the PPP to launch a vote of no-confidence against the prime minister if it is truly sincere in its opposition to the PMLN.
Rather than calming tensions, however, the PPP on Tuesday threw more fuel into the fire, with its leader Palwasha Khan accusing Nawaz of trying to “oust” her uncle, P.M. Sharif, by angering the PPP. “Peoples Party does not want to get in the middle of this fight. You fight inside your house. Punjab government does not like seeing [P.M.] Shehbaz Sharif sitting on his seat,” she claimed.
Maintaining the PMLN would not have a government in the center without the PPP’s support, she said the PPP would continue to speak about Punjab and criticism of the provincial government did not amount to criticism of the Punjabi people.
Separately, appearing on Geo News, Adviser to the P.M. on Political Affairs Sanaullah said the matter could be swiftly resolved if top leaders of both parties held direct talks. Stressing that both parties were rivals but not enemies, he said they had found common ground in several situations. He maintained recent comments from PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had implied the Punjab government was not performing adequately, adding this had merited a response.