- Refrains from divulging specifics, says a fifth meeting between two parties to be held on Monday (today)
ISLAMABAD: former finance minister and senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar on Sunday hinted at a significant development expected in talks between the coordination committees of his party and the PPP on Monday.
Ishaq Dar, heading the PML-N coordination committee, indicated that the upcoming meeting, the fifth meeting between the two parties, could lead to a breakthrough, although he refrained from divulging specifics.
“Consultation on various proposals was underway till yesterday,” Dar stated, suggesting ongoing deliberations between the parties. He further remarked that while progress had been made, both sides had yet to finalise key points of agreement.
“We are working towards consensus on critical issues,” Dar affirmed, underlining the parties’ efforts to forge a joint declaration regarding the composition of the next government at the federal level.
In another statement, senior leader PML-N and Head of Coordination Committee Senator Ishaq Dar requested the leaders of both the PML-N and PPP to follow the rules laid down between the committees for discussion.
He said that it was decided that no member or leader of the coordination committees formed by the two parties will comment on the ongoing process of discussion and the points discussed in it.
The final points have not yet been settled between the parties and consultations continued till yesterday on various proposals
Four rounds of consultation have been completed and the fifth session has been scheduled tomorrow, Monday afternoon.
He said that a formal joint declaration of both parties will be issued after the consultation is completed.
It is not appropriate to discuss anything before the consultation is completed as per the agreed procedure between the two parties.
Earlier, there were reports that the PML-N and PPP have reached consensus on establishment of a stable democratic government, which is imperative for the nation.
The reports said that agreement has been reached during a meeting of coordination committees of both the parties in Islamabad. During the meeting, several proposals regarding government formation were deliberated.
Both parties have agreed to meet again tomorrow to further discuss recommendations and finalize their decisions. Senator Ishaq Dar, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Senator Azam Nazir Tarar and Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan represented the PML-N at the meeting.
The Pakistan People’s Party was represented by Syed Murad Ali Shah, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Saeed Ghani, Nadeem Afzal Chan, Nawab Sana Ullah Zehri, Shuja Khan, and Sardar Bahadur Khan Sehar.
‘Progress in negotiations between PML-N, PPP’
Former Defense Minister Khawaja Asif claimed that progress has been made in political negotiations between PML-N and PPP in talks held Saturday evening, but he was unaware of the details of the progress.
Speaking to the media in Sialkot, he said the PML-N and PPP negotiating committees have held three rounds of talks for the formation of the next federal government and first two rounds ended up inconclusive.
Commenting on the statement of former Commissioner Rawalpindi regarding rigging the elections, Kh Asif said the statement was suspicious and brought under some plan.
Kh Asif said that only ROs, DRs are given powers during the elections while no responsibility is given to the commissioners during the elections.
“It would be inappropriate to discuss Commissioner Rawalpindi’s statement, if the ECP had not formed the committee, it would have commented, but the truth of the press conference of the former commissioner has come out.”
Kh Asif said that partnership of political parties is a part of democratic process, political stability is inevitable for economic stability and claimed progress was made in political negotiations yesterday evening.
He said that PML-N has a simple majority in Punjab, the people of Karachi have given mandate to MQM. “It is clear that PML-N, PPP and MQM will form a joint government,” he said.
Asif said Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s alliance is with those who benefited from fraud in KP, adding that, the truth of the press conference of the former commissioner has come out now.
The Election Commission Pakistan (ECP) has formed a committee on the statement of the former commissioner.
“Partnership of political parties is a part of democratic process,” he said.
“Politicians should rise above personal interests and sacrifice for the people,” Khawaja Asif commented.
