LAHORE: Differences continued to mar the working relationship between the PPP and PML-N as the coalition partners’ coordination committees met on Saturday to resolve outstanding issues and iron out their differences.
The PML-N-led government enjoys a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly with the PPP’s support.
The meeting, held after months of strained relations during the acrimonious election campaigns in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, did not go smoothly, according to insiders.
The PPP delegation included former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider Khan, Hassan Murtaza, Qamar Zaman Kaira and Ali Qasim Gilani.
Representing the PML-N were Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah and Khawaja Saad Rafique.
The PPP protested that, as a coalition partner, it was paying a heavy political price for the PML-N government’s failure on multiple fronts, including runaway inflation, rising petroleum prices, the unresolved farming crisis, load-shedding and delays in local government elections.
The PML-N, on the other hand, maintained that instead of acting as a coalition partner and sharing responsibility, the PPP was behaving more like an opposition party and exploiting public issues for political gains, despite knowing that the government had little control over factors such as petroleum prices and inflation.
“There were moments of heated debate, but tempers soon cooled as both sides knew that they had no option but to work together as political guarantors of the system,” one of the participants told Dawn.
The PML-N also invited Punjab Inspector General of Police Rao Abdul Karim to address the PPP’s concerns relating to police matters and assured the party of its share in development schemes.
The PPP, however, recalled that previous decisions taken on both matters had not been implemented and had effectively been forgotten.
However, the bad blood and trust deficit that had built up over months of acrimonious relations between the two coalition partners may take several more meetings and confidence-building measures to overcome, the participant said, adding: “Both sides agreed to implement decisions taken previously, meet more regularly and work together to improve governance.”
The two sides also agreed to maintain the consultation process and continue working together to resolve differences and address coalition-related matters through mutual understanding and in the national interest.
The PPP and PML-N were engaged in a war of words following the PML-N’s emergence as the winner of the first phase of elections in AJK.
Last week, the PPP questioned Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s silence over the debate on creating new provinces and sought his stance on the matter.
The PPP had earlier maintained that any move to create additional federating units must follow the procedure laid down in the Constitution. However, the PPP-led Sindh government on Wednesday got a resolution passed by the provincial assembly opposing any further division of the country’s existing four provinces.
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