Two oldest political parties of Pakistan, PPP and PML-N had been in power for decades. Both the parties saw many ups and downs during their respective tenures. They have exchanged hot words for each other as well in the past. But now, the scenario is totally different; opposition leader, Mian Shehbaz Sharif and former president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari had a joint meeting in Karachi. This is very common in politics because sometimes you are not on the same page due to certain differences while on the next moment you have no issues and have many similarities as well. As both the parties have many differences, despite that they met together for personal gains. Two political parties ruled the country in the 90s for two terms and from 2008 to 2018 respectively. When Asif Ali Zardari was the president of Pakistan, then CM of Punjab , Shehbaz Sharif used to say openly that I will never welcome the president of Pakistan in Punjab. Such were the harsh relations between them and even they used abusive language for one another. During the 2018 general election campaign, PML-N leadership often said that “Zardari and Imran are Bhai Bhai”. Maryam Nawaz even said that if you cast a vote for Zardari, ultimately it will go for Imran and vice versa. But things changed when PTI won the general election and came into power. Imran Khan’s government paved the way for PML-N and PPP to come closer. It is a common belief that in politics everything is done for personal interests. As there are cases of corruption and money laundering against the leaders of both the parties, therefore, they joined hands together to protect their assets. Some critics say that they now have the same agenda to work on, which is how to detail the acting government while others believe that it is the ultimate victory of Imran Khan as both the parties have to save themselves from corruption cases. Now only time will tell us how long they will work on the same agenda.
SHAHZAD PANHWAR,
Sukkur.