During the meeting, they discussed the prevailing political and economic situation in the country. Paying tribute to the steps taken by the present government for the welfare of the people, the coalition parties also expressed full confidence in the government, according to officials. Both the leaders agreed to get the country out from the troubled economic condition through mutual cooperation. The meeting was attended by senior government ministers, PML-N leaders and PPP leaders.
Also, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tweeted late Saturday and demanded answers from the previous government over huge loans. “In its tenure of nearly 4 years, the PTI govt took loans worth Rs20,000 billion, which was an increase of 80% in the loans taken since 1947. Do they have any single project to show for these loans? People want answers,” Shehbaz Sharif tweeted. “Thank you to Karachi’s business community for the invitation to speak. I explained the rationale behind the ban on import of luxury items: saving scarce foreign exchange, dollar stabilization, ending social imbalance & strengthening local industry.’
Meanwhile, PM Shehbaz Sharif held important consultations with former PM Nawaz Sharif on the prevailing political, economic and constitutional challenges being faced by the government and decided not to resign and dissolve the National Assembly and instead, they decided to tackle the issues through proper consultations and strategy.
| PML-N, PPP leaders discuss ‘prevailing political, economic situation’ in Lahore meeting | Coalition parties express full confidence in government | Where loans worth Rs20,000 billion were spent, PM seeks answers from PTI
This was the reason that PM Shehbaz Sharif thrice postponed his address to the nation. Official sources told The Nation that PM Shehbaz Sharif ‘has now called an important and decisive meeting’ of the allied parties in power to discuss and evolve strategy as to how to tackle some of the challenging issues being faced by the government including, financial, constitutional, political and security.
According to sources, PM has completed consultations with his own party leaders to evolve strategy and response which would be shared and discussed with allied parties. The meeting would be attended by heads of the parties which are allied in the present ruling coalition.
This could be the second meeting of the allied parties in ten days. According to the sources, the meeting would discuss election reforms, NAB Law amendment and political crisis in Punjab, and the role of the President with the government. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar would brief the participants about the draft of the NAB amendment bill which would be tabled. The meeting would also discuss strategy to counter the PTI narrative against the government.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah would also brief the strategy to the allies about some of the actions being taken against PTI leaders in accordance with Law and would seek the approval. The meeting would also discuss strategy as to how it could go ahead with the appointment of Governors of Sindh and Punjab. President Alvi had stopped the appointment of both the governors. Sources said leaders of the allied parties assured their full cooperation to the government in tackling the core issues being faced by the government.