- President Zardari, Mohsin Naqvi to discuss the PML-N-PPP friction.
- The members of the PPP Boycotent Na, Senate sessions on Maryam’s remarks.
- Party Rhetorical Locar of Division from Punjab to Sindh.
Karachi / Islamabad: Tensions between the partners of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz coalition (PML-N) and the Pakistani peoples’ party (PPP) degenerate after animated exchanges on the public remarks of the Minister-Chief of Punjab, Maryam Nawaz ,, The news reported Tuesday.
PPP legislators, one day earlier, organized debraying from the National Assembly and the Senate and demanded official apology, while the PML-N ministers rejected the request and counter-attacked the Sindh governance record.
However, President Asif Ali Zardari intervened to defuse the growing tensions between the governments of Sindh and Punjab which summoned the Minister of the Interior Mohin Naqvi to Karachi for urgent consultations.
The president held a telephone conversation with the Minister of the Interior to discuss the ongoing friction between the provincial government of Punjab and the Sindh and immediately summoned it to Karachi.
The president’s intervention comes in the context of the current verbal tablecloth between the PPP and the PML -N – the main parties in power of the center – which have disagreed on flood relief, water resources and the performance of their respective provincial governments in Sindh and Punjab.
On Monday, PPP legislators organized debraying from the Senate and the National Assembly, demanding apology from the chief Minister of Punjab. In the National Assembly, PPP and Pakistan Tehreek-E-insaf (PTI) legislators organized separately.
The members of the PPP boycotted the procedure of the Chamber to protest against what they described as “regrettable remarks” by the Punjab CM against their management.
Speaking on a order point, the former Prime Minister and main leader of the PPP, Raja Perviz Ashraf, said that his party would not participate in the procedure until the government has provided a satisfactory explanation concerning the statements of the Punjab CM.
“Bilawal Bhutto has never criticized any PML-N leader; he rather appreciated the governance of Punjab CM. We are part of this government for the Pakistan Federation, not confrontation,” said Raja.
He added that the tolerance of the PPP should not be confused with weakness, recalling at home that the party had faced much more difficult moments, including military dictatorships.
Ashraf also criticized the withdrawal of the security of the PPP parliamentary chief in the Punjab assembly and described it as a violation of the spirit of the Charter of Democracy.
“We must not use a division language or use blame games. Respect is more important for us than power,” he added.
Speaking on the parquet floor of the room, the parliamentary chief of the PPP, the senator Sherry Rehman, said he was concerned about what she described as a “rhetoric of division” from Punjab towards the Sindh and the management of the PPP at a time when the nation was in shock of devastating floods.
“More than 6.5 million Pakistanis have been affected by the floods-they are not Punjabis or Sindhis, they are Pakistanis. Instead of focusing on their fate and their divider rhetoric. It is not a way to manage a crisis or a coalition,” she said.
Sherry Rehman said that the “War of Words” in progress between Punjab and Sindh injured both coalition and national unity. She said the PPP had shown restraint and solidarity, but a red line had been crossed when the leaders of PML-N “played the Punjab card” and criticized Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Asefa Bhutto Zardari.
She deplored that the Punjab government even withdrew the security of the PPP parliamentary chief in the Punjab Assembly.
Defending recent comments from Bilawal, she said that he had simply suggested that the Punjab government uses data from the Benazir income support program (BISP) to identify and compensate flood victims.
Calling BISP one of the most effective social protection mechanisms in the world, it has cited a report by the World Bank to support its point. Sherry argued that “apologies bring more respect” and that the PPP did not believe in “the policy of division or hatred”.
“If apologies are not offered, then do not take our support for granted. The PPP remains the largest party in the Senate,” she warned before directing the raising of her party.
Responding to his remarks, the minister of Law, Azam Nazeer Tarar, took a conciliatory tone, saying that President Aif Zardari had already taken note of the situation and intervened to play his constitutional role.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif are both supporters of reconciliation. Political temperature will drop soon,” said Tarar, adding with humor that the opposition should not celebrate these “high and low” in coalition policy.
Meanwhile, separately, the Minister of Defense, Khawaja Asif, applauded Asad Qaiser of PTI for suggesting that PPP moves a motion without confidence against the government, telling him to focus on the reparation of his own party first.
