Formal talks: Nawaz gives senior leaders go-ahead

Proposals given to some 'middle-men, who will take them to the PPP. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE

The Express Tribune has learnt that proposals have been given to some “middle-men,” who will take them to the PPP.

Nawaz, who arrived back in Pakistan after a long visit to Europe, presided over two important party meetings. One dealt with the party’s provincial organisation, in which grassroot-level office bearers were instructed to complete party membership drives on a war-footing. The second meeting was with close senior party leaders, wherein the general elections were discussed. According to sources, Nawaz was informed that the PPP has conveyed a message to PML-N senior leaders through middlemen to start formal negotiations about the caretaker set up.

The sources said that PPP will formulate a committee comprising its coalition partners. The committee will have full mandate to hold negotiations with the opposition and develop consensus over the caretaker prime minister and chief ministers of the four provinces. Nawaz is believed to have agreed with this proposal, and has assigned some senior leaders to contact other parties, too, to build a list of prospective candidates. The caretaker chief ministers of Punjab and Sindh, would, as agreed under former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani, would be of the PML-N and PPP respectively.

The sources held that both parties have already agreed, through intermediaries, that all stakeholders, even non-political, would be taken into confidence.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2012.