ISLAMABAD – After a fortnight of confrontation, both the PPP and the PML-N have reached a quiet understanding under which both parties would end the path of confrontation and adopt a softened stance to ensure safe sailing for both parties.
A well-placed source informed Pakistan Today that the deal had been given a nod by the top leadership of both political parties and the telephonic conversation between President Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had taken place after the very agreement.
“As a confidence-building measure per the agreement, the PPP will calm down its protesting MPAs in the Punjab Assembly who have been raising a voice against PML-Q defectors – the Unification Bloc -and the same gesture will be replicated by PML-N parliamentarians in the joint sitting of parliament during the presidential address, due on March 22,” the source added.
The source said the new opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, Raja Riaz Ahmed, would also be allotted due protocol, staff car and other facilities in the next few days by the Punjab government, as per the right of leader of the opposition.
Meanwhile, in a bid to cool down temperatures in the Punjab Assembly, President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday told PPP Punjab MPAs that the party in Punjab would not do anything to destabilise the provincial government or weaken democracy in any way. He also advised the MPs to perform their duty as responsible and critical opposition members and not allow themselves to be provoked into saying or doing anything against the spirit of democracy.
“The PPP, with the support of PML-Q legislators, gave a tough time to the PML-N in the Punjab Assembly on the issue of Unification Bloc and for the first time in history, the PML-N had to adopt a defensive stance in Punjab. This made the Sharifs opt for reconciliation with the PPP,” the source added.
A PML-N source confirmed the development, but refrained from divulging details. “In the developing scenario, the PML-Q once again has been used as a tissue paper by the PPP to soften PML-N’s aggressive stance after the Punjab CM threw PPP ministers out of the provincial cabinet,” the PML-N leader said.
