ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif formally announced his party’s decision to part ways with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Friday and said that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif would most likely dissolve the provincial cabinet to form a new one that would exclude PPP ministers.
Following a five-hour meeting of the party’s executive council to discuss future strategies, Nawaz told a press conference that the decision to part ways with the PPP in Punjab was in the larger public interest. He said that his party would not hesitate to reconsider its decision to not take down the government if the PPP did not “behave.”
Reading out a list of grievances against the PPP government, Sharif said that despite the PML-N’s continuous efforts to engage the government in constructive dialogue, it did not take significant action on any of the demands put forth by his party in its 10-point agenda. “Though there was room for tangible development on many issues pointed out by the PML-N, no significant development had been made in 45 days.”
“We knew weaknesses of this government and that’s why the accountability of [former president] General Pervez Musharraf and investigation into the killing of [former prime minister] Benazir Bhutto were not included in the 10-point agenda, but the government was not able to make progress on any other issue either,” he said.
“We have decided to part ways with the PPP. We are not ready to be part of this game anymore. From today, the PPP and the PML-N will have separate roles in the centre and in the province. We will take our programme to the public,” Nawaz said, and avoided questions about whether the PML-N would now seek early elections, but said that the party was keeping its options open, since demanding mid-term elections was neither illegal nor unconstitutional.
“The party decided to part ways with the PPP with an overwhelming majority – only five out of 300 participants voted against this decision. This is not my personal decision,” he said. Online quoted its sources as saying that Javed Hashmi, Maimoona Javed Hashmi, Ishaq Dar, Raja Zafarul Haq and Saad Rafique had opposed the decision.
“In the course of the last three years, we also had to face the tag of a friendly opposition,” Nawaz said. The modalities of the new provincial cabinet would be decided by the CM, he added. He accused President Asif Ali Zardari of tricking his party, and said that after taking oath as the president, Zardari did not restore the judges Musharraf had sacked despite promising to do so.
Yasir Habib adds from Lahore: An inside source said PML-N had decided to select PML-Q unification bloc members Atta Manika and Dr Tahir Ali Javed as new ministers. Another five or more members of the bloc would be given ministries later, said the source, and that the chief minister was also likely to hold a meeting with the bloc next week.
“The unification bloc members belonged to the PML-N and were taken hostage by Musharraf and the Chaudhrys…now they have returned to their mother party. We will also welcome those who were not part of the conspiracy hatched against our party,” he said.
