“I am still standing by my story that Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif are not on the best of terms,” Pakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami said in his channel 24 programme DNA on Tuesday night.
He was talking about the first meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif in over a month. He said that Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan played a major role in arranging the meeting between the prime minister and the army chief. According to Nizami, the COAS urged the PM to resolve the political crisis which emerged in the aftermath of the Panama Leaks.
Talking about the style of Nawaz Sharif’s government, he said that most of the affairs are being managed by the recently established cell in the Prime Minister’s office headed by the daughter of the prime minister Maryam Nawaz.
“The government is being run without taking into confidence the parliament and the cabinet,” he commented. He further added that the core members of Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet including Khawaja Asif and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan are distancing themselves from this cell of the PM Office.
“In my opinion, former president Asif Ali Zardari is pursuing two policies simultaneously as Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah’s stance is soft while the Opposition Leader in the Senate Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan is taking a hard position on the Panama Leaks,” Nizami said.
Deputy convener of Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Dr Farooq Sattar said later in the programme that MQM has a thorough plan for the development of Karachi and its nominee for the slot of Mayor Waseem Akhtar will soon unveil it.
He further added that the missing workers of MQM have started coming back and the party hopes that all its workers will be back at their home very soon.
“The crime rate in Karachi has decreased drastically after the operation against the criminals and terrorists but we want a peaceful Karachi in the future as well,” he said.