Summit-level talks between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) to reach an out-of-house settlement of the Senate opposition leader dispute ended in failure on Friday as neither of the two parties budged from their stated positions.
JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman called on the PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif at Punjab House here and discussed the political situation in the country. A source privy to the meeting told Pakistan Today that Fazl asked Nawaz to accept Abdul Ghafoor Haideri as Senate opposition leader but Nawaz remained firm on his earlier stance and sought Ishaq Dar’s nomination for the slot.
He said all the opposition parties in the Senate except JUI-F were backing Dar for the slot. The source quoted Nawaz as having told Fazl that as the debate on the legal and constitutional issues involving the appointment of opposition leader had formally begun in the House, both parties should wait for the decision of the Senate chairman. However, despite the differences between the two parties on the issue, both leaders agreed to play a joint role as opposition in the Upper House of parliament.
Fazl also invited Nawaz to the Kashmir Conference being organised under the auspices of parliament’s Kashmir Committee next month. Nawaz accepted the invitation but told Fazl that the PML-N would name a leader to attend the conference after receiving a formal invitation and copy of the conference agenda.
A day earlier, Fazl had called on President Asif Ali Zardari at the Presidency to discuss the current political situation in the country. According to a source in the Pakistan People’s Party, matters relating to the PPP-JUI-F and JUI-F-PML-N relationships were discussed in the meeting as well.
