PML-N and PPP decide to mend fences

Islamabad

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) have decided to mend their fences and restore the spirit of the Charter of Democracy (CoD) that was inked between Nawaz Sharif and late Ms Benazir Bhutto way back in June 2006 in London.

Highly placed political sources told The News here the other day that the two parties, after their tense relations of last eight months on various counts, had established contact with each other through a mutual a friend of the two leaderships. The PPP is interested in soliciting support of the federal government in its position on deployment of Rangers in Karachi/Sindh. The federal government had watered down its stance regarding the Rangers deployment in Sindh, and it didn’t insist its position as it followed on the previous occasion. The expiry of Protection of Pakistan Act (POPA) is yet another example of softening of the federal government since it hasn’t been revived, and the matter has been handed over to a committee for deliberations.

The sources revealed that PPP leader Asif Zardari wanted to thrash out details for further working between the two parties, and he asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to dispatch his emissary for the purpose. Federal Minister for Finance Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar, who left Karachi Friday evening for Dubai where his family is also residing, was tipped as go between the two parties, but he has made it clear that he has no plan to meet the PPP leader. Dar’s wife had undergone wrist surgery recently, and he had gone there to inquire after her.

Meanwhile, a Finance Ministry spokesman has also clarified that Senator Ishaq Dar isn’t running any business in Dubai. The statement made by the leader of the opposition, Syed Khursheed Shah in this regard is the result f his ignorance. Senator Ishaq Dar is returning from Dubai today (Sunday) and the sources didn’t rule out possibility of his meeting with some stalwarts of the PPP before his returning home. They said that the PPP is in agreement with the PML-N on the question of threats for the system due to the reasons.

Both the parties smelled a rat in solo flight of the PTI leader Imran Khan, who has suddenly announced to launch an agitation against the government next month by leaving his opposition’s pals in wilderness. Dr Tahirul Qadri is also expected to join him later in the month. His role in the previous PTI-PAT agitation is well known and their links were also later exposed. The PML-N and the PPP have once again agreed to thwart any conspiracy against the system. It is understood that details for their cooperation would be worked out in a couple of days, the sources added.