ISLAMABAD-The federal government’s coalition partners look unhappy with the ruling PTI for not keeping them in the loop on important policy making matters including legislative business.
Some of the important allied partners have even openly started conveying their reservations with the federal government and soon may formally start raising objections on it, background discussions with government’s allied partners revealed yesterday.
These allied partners, especially in the centre, are playing a much supportive role to thwart all the moves of the joint opposition factions in the parliament.
The PTI’s government, with the majority of votes in the national assembly, is successfully making legislation with the full support of its coalition partners.
In the National Assembly, MQM-P has 7, Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) 4, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) 3, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) 5 votes respectively. PTI with its 156 lawmakers in the lower house of parliament has always needed support of these partners for passing any important bill.
The PTI government in a recent move from opposition, regarding no-confidence against deputy speaker Qasim Khan Suri, was confident to defeat it only with the support of its allied partners.
Some of the major allied partners, the sources said, have assured their conditional support to the government when it was planning to fully contest with opposition on this seat. The major concerns of the partners were about keeping them in dark in and outside the parliament on some important matters, they said.
MQM-P and GDA, a couple of days before on the floor of the national assembly, had strongly raised objections with the PTI government for not informing them about heavy legislative business (eleven ordinances).
When contacted, MQM-P’s senior lawmaker Amin ul Haq said that the government should take its allied partners into confidence about all important moves in future.
“The allied partners should be informed about all the important matters in and outside the parliament, as it is their right,” he said mentioning that his party would keep reminding the speaker to issue production orders of all the arrested members.
Talking to The Nation, BNP (Mengal) MNA Muhmmad Hashim said that his party lawmakers were not taken into confidence about the recent legislative business related to passing the ordinances.
“The government should not forget its coalition partners on important policy matters,” he said.
About the medical treatment of PML-N supermo Nawaz Sharif, two major partners of the government (GDA and MQM-P) have recently adopted a stance that the government should not block the way of former prime minister and allow him for medical treatment abroad.
The sources said that these important partners of the government have also started conveying to the PTI to avoid unnecessary confrontation with the opposition on all the matters especially in parliament.
The coalition partners, the sources said, might also separately hold meeting with prime minister to raise their concerns on different matters.
Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) is seemingly not on the same page with the PTI over the issue of carving out a new province in Punjab as Federal Minister for Housing and Works Tariq Bashir Cheema has expressed these concerns with the federal government.
Sardar Akhtar Mengal has also expressed reservations with the government for still not fulfilling its six-point demands including the issue of missing persons, water shortage, quota for the Baloch youth in government departments.