P.M. Sharif meets former president Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad. Photo courtesy PID
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari met on Tuesday, with sources claiming they reviewed options to tackle the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s threatened dissolution of the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies to force the government into early general elections.
The prime minister and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman has reportedly increased contacts in recent days, with their discussions revolving around how to counter PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s latest attempt to secure early elections. According to sources, the two leaders deliberated on legal and constitutional options, especially with regard to the ongoing session of the Punjab Assembly, which Chief Minister Parvez Elahi—an ally of Khan—claims bars the submission of any motion of no-confidence or vote of confidence.
The sources claimed that Zardari—who played a key role in securing all necessary votes for the vote of no-confidence that led to Khan’s ouster as prime minister—has been tasked with securing support to form a new Punjab government led by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and its allies. In this regard, they said, he is likely to travel to Lahore soon and personally try to negotiate a solution.
According to sources within both the PPP and PMLN, both the prime minister and Zardari are also meeting leaders of their allied parties, with Sharif likely to convene a meeting of all senior leaders within this week and chalk out a future course of action.
In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said the meeting between Zardari and Sharif had taken stock of the current political situation in the country. It said the two leaders had discussed the rehabilitation of flood victims and the ongoing relief process, especially in light of the onset of winter. Both of them agreed to expedite the process of rehabilitation of flood-affected people and also discussed matters related to the economy, relief for the masses and development projects.
In parallel with the discussions of the senior leadership, workers of both the PMLN and PPP in Punjab have agreed to focus their efforts on trying to win over “disgruntled” PTI lawmakers. Addressing media, Special Assistant to the P.M. Attaullah Tarar claimed there were “many” PTI lawmakers who did not agree with Khan’s strategy and wanted the assemblies to complete their constitutional tenure.
Stressing that the opposition’s strategy was complete—but would only be unveiled in reaction to the PTI’s actions—he said it had been decided to challenge in court the suspension of 18 PMLN MPAs by the Punjab Assembly speaker. The suspended lawmakers had protested a resolution submitted by former chief minister Usman Buzdar in which he had condemned an Election Commission of Pakistan ruling to disqualify Imran Khan.
PTI’s efforts
Meanwhile, the PTI chairman met Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan in Lahore, setting off a flurry of speculation as he had initially been scheduled to meet Elahi. Speaking with media after the meeting, the speaker claimed the opposition could not move a no-confidence motion and there were “zero chances” of the imposition of governor’s rule. He also denied reports of backchannel contacts between the government and the PTI.
In a bid to avoid media speculation, the PTI has announced that the Punjab chief minister would now meet its chairman on Thursday (tomorrow). The meeting is being seen as key to the dissolution of the assemblies, as rumors persist of Elahi not being in favor of the move despite issuing public statements vowing to act on Khan’s orders.