By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: Amid growing discontent between the allied coalition government parties, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders, including former president Asif Ali Zardari and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto, on Thursday to discuss the ongoing political situation in the country.
The meeting was attended by other high-level politicians including Federal Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah, former National Assembly speaker and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Minister for Railways and Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafique and PML-N leader Malik Ahmad Khan.
The meeting came after allies complained of lack of development funds during the National Assembly session on Monday, and said that the government was not fulfilling the promises made to them at the time of the no-confidence motion against former prime minister Imran Khan.
Aslam Bhootani and Khalid Magsi, both from Balochistan, as well as Osama Qadri from Sindh, said that the government had not allocated funds for their constituencies. They added that the allies were now being ignored.
“We joined the coalition out of respect for [Prime Minister] Shehbaz Sharif and [former president] Asif Zardari. But now, no one listens to us,” Bhootani said. He added that during the previous government’s tenure, “we were not respected but we got funds”.
“Now that their work is done,” Bhootani continued, referring to the success of the no-confidence motion, “the allies are forgotten”. He maintained that Zardari and Shehbaz “respect us but do not give us the development funds”.
The high-level engagements come after allied Parties including MQM-P, JUI-F, and ANP issued warnings to lift their weigh from the government.
According to reports emerged Thursday, ANP central committee’s meeting held in Peshawar warned to leave federal government citing all the points agreed before formation of govt not been met. The meeting, however, left the final say on Party’s Central Chief Asfandyar Wali Khan.
Wednesday, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), an ally of the Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government, had threatened to sit on the opposition benches.
According to details, MQM-P raised reservations about the attitude of the coalition ministers of the government in the National Assembly and threatened to sit on the opposition benches.
MNA Sheikh Salahuddin while addressing the National Assembly said that MQM-P has paid a heavy political price for this government, if they are to be given such answers in the assembly by ministers then we will not hesitate to sit on this side.
Another lawmaker, Sabir QaimKhani staged a walkout from the assembly over no resolution to the problems of Hyderabad. Qaimkhani said that if the problems are not solved, then there is no need to remain in ministries, it’s useless.
The MQM-P lawmaker said that no priority was given to the projects of their areas in the budget, without taking anyone’s name, he said one person is not allowing our projects to be included in the budget.
Federal Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi held talks with MQM members after they staged walk-out from the National Assembly (NA) on Wednesday.
