ISLAMABAD - Pakistan People’s Party supremo Asif Ali Zardari is active to end the political impasse as the parties fight over the general elections, sources said.
The PPP does not agree with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf’s seemingly confrontational attitude, the political sources said. Zardari has been urging coalition partner, the PML-N, to prefer dialogue over political confrontation. Sources told The Nation that the PML-N wanted to pay the PTI in the same coin but the PPP leadership was advocating a dialogue process. The PPP has already distanced itself from the PML-N’s demand that Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial should step down. The PPP may review its stance if the PML-N insists.
Yesterday, the federal cabinet met with the top agendas of release of funds for Punjab elections, President’s decision to return Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, and Justice Athar Minallah’s dissenting note on suo motu on the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Reports said that the PML-N was ready to challenge the Chief Justice-led bench’s decision to hold elections in the province on May 14 as it was desperate for a narrative that would help it in elections. Zardari, however, is thinking on the contrary. The PPP supremo believes confrontation among the political parties or with the institutions will only harm the national unity.
“Zardari wants a national dialogue and agree on some middle way out to end the deadlock,” said a close aide of the PPP leader. Yesterday, Zardari said Pakistan will be able to get the country out of its difficulties only by becoming a Pakistani nation. “Shahbaz Bhatti is the hero of the PPP. By defeating all kinds of extremism, Benazir Bhutto tried to create the Pakistan of Shaheed Bhutto,” he said in a message on Easter. PPP leader Faisal Karim Kundi, who is also the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, maintained that the nation was suffering due to the PTI’s failed policies and PPP is the only major political force in the country, which can steer the country out of difficult times.
He urged PTI chief Imran Khan to stop double standards, “as the nation is suffering the consequences of his shortcomings, adding, the government and opposition should sit together and think about how to direct the country towards prosperity and development.” Kundi said keeping in view the current situation in the country and “we cannot afford separate elections in the country, he said, adding, such elections will result in a heavy burden on the economy of the country.” He said it was the time that every political party must have to analyze itself as everyone knows what is right and what is wrong. “The PPP is against delay in polls but we also are against snap polls,” he contended.