Sources said the meeting discussed issues related to Punjab and the central government. The PPP is concerned that it has been “constantly ignored in Punjab”. Sanaullah said another meeting with Beawal is scheduled for next week.
ISLAMABAD: Amid escalating conflict between the two ruling parties Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), top leaders of both parties, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, met in Islamabad on Thursday to resolve their differences.
Sources told Geo News that Prime Minister Shehbaz’s coalition government had given a vote of confidence to the PPP leadership ahead of “important legislation” in the National Assembly.
In this regard, sources said Parliament will convene on Monday for “important legislation”.
The officials, without revealing details of the upcoming bill, said the two sides also discussed the current political situation in the country and various important issues.
The PPP delegation led by Bilawal comprised Senator Sherry Rehman, former Speaker of National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and MP Naveed Kamal.
From the PML-N side, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Public and Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah attended the meeting.
Sources said the PPP shared various concerns with Chief Minister Shehbaz, including non-implementation of a written agreement on power-sharing modality in Punjab.
“The PPP has always been ignored in the Punjab government,” the source said, listing one of the objections raised during the meeting.
The two parties said a meeting of the coordination committee of the PML-N and the PPP would be convened at the Punjab Governor’s House on Sunday (August 25) to resolve the issues between the two parties.
Appearing on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’ early today, Special Advisor to the PM Sanaullah confirmed the meeting between PM Shehbaz and Mr Bilawal.
“All issues have been discussed with the PPP,” he said, adding that the prime minister would meet PPP representatives again next week.
Sanaullah further asserted that most of the issues regarding the PPP have been resolved.
“A meeting will be held with the PPP next week to make progress on several issues,” the PML-N leader added.
Notably, the two political allies have long been at odds over the federal budget, power subsidies and other issues.
The most recent example was the fierce exchange of words between the PPP and the PML-N over the issue of reducing the PML-N’s powers in Punjab.
Sources had earlier said Bilawal was likely to convey his party’s concerns and reservations over the PML-N government’s economic policies to the prime minister.
According to sources, the party’s concerns included that while the central government was “making excuses” on the grounds that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had imposed “stringent conditionalities” on providing subsidies and relief to the people, Punjab was providing relief to the people of the province.
Another concern of the party was to utilize the abundant coal in Thar to provide cheap electricity to the people of Sindh.
After the February 8 general election, the PPP announced that it would form a government in Sindh and support the PML-N in forming the government at the centre and in Punjab, but refused to accept it as a cabinet.
