Agencies
There was no progress in the formation of a new coalition government in Pakistan on Tuesday as top leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) failed to agree on a power-sharing deal in their latest round of talks, indicating deepening fissures in the country’s political landscape.
The fifth round of the meeting, held at the residence of PML-N senior leader Senator Ishaq Dar in Islamabad on Monday, saw the participation of prominent leaders from both parties, who have pledged to work together in the interest of the cash-strapped country.
The PPP delegation comprised senior leaders Murad Ali Shah, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Nadeem Afzal Chan, and others, The Express Tribune newspaper reported on Tuesday. After a three-hour deliberation on Monday, the negotiation hit a snag prompting a temporary halt, with both PML-N and PPP agreeing to reconvene at 10 pm on Monday. However, the meeting did not take place.
Eventually, at 11 pm, the PML-N concluded their meeting, announcing that discussions with PPP would resume on Wednesday.
In an informal conversation with reporters after the first round of the meeting, PML-N leader Azam Nazir Tarar conveyed a positive trajectory in the ongoing discussions. “Some things have already been decided on the matter of PPP’s inclusion in the cabinet,” Tarar was quoted as saying by Geo News. The PPP is reportedly asking for key constitutional positions of President, Chairman Senate, and Speaker of the National Assembly for its support to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N.
Sources said PPP chairman Bilawal Zardari-Bhutto was playing smartly and trying to bring PML-N to a point where it withdrew from making a coalition government and then launching himself as prime minister and form a government with the support of independents of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) who have now joined the Sunni Ittehad Council.
