ISLAMABAD: The government has asked the PML-N to give it four days to come up with an implementation plan on the party’s 10-point agenda. The eighth round of the parleys between the PPP ministerial team, led by Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and the PML-N committee led by Senator Ishaq Dar was held on Friday. The government’s team included newly-appointed ministers, Raza Rabbani, Naveed Qamar and Babar Awan. Two members of the government team – Raja Pervez Ashraf and Hina Rabbani Khar did not attend the meeting – Ashraf for being dropped from the cabinet and Hina, for having her portfolio changed. An official source said differences remained on the draft accountability bill and it was decided that another meeting was required to finalise it. The meeting was briefed that Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had supported the revival of the magistracy system for controlling the price hike, while Sindh and Balochistan had decided to take measures to reform the existing system. This proposal too required another meeting. The source said the issue of the top 100 bank loans could not be taken up as the documents sent by State Bank of Pakistan were delayed due to the PIA workers’ strike. The PML-N team raised concerns over the leaking of information of discussions of the meeting, saying it could become a hurdle in reaching a consensus on important expenditure cuts and revenue generation measures, the source said, adding that the government attributed the leaks to PML-N sources. After the meeting, the finance minister told reporters that the meeting reviewed the progress on all the 10 points on the agenda “and we will present the way forward on Tuesday”. Dar said after the discussions, progress had been made on all the 10 points and the government asked for some time to wrap up things. To a question on the new cabinet’s size and its merit, Dar said, the size of the cabinet was smaller which was welcome, however, he did not comment on the honesty of the cabinet ministers.
