PPP members urge party to quit Punjab govt
PPP members send recommendations to their leadership advising it to quit the coalition in Punjab.
LAHORE:
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Punjab members on Saturday sent recommendations to their leadership advising it to quit the coalition in Punjab.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had given the government until January 10, 2011 to respond to a nine-point agenda or else face expulsion from the coalition government in Punjab.
Talking to the media outside the Governor House in Lahore, PPP Punjab President Imtiaz Safdar Warraich asserted that the decision to pull out of the provincial government cannot be reversed.
Meanwhile, member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) forward block Atta Muhammad Manika said that his party will support the PML-N in Punjab.
Speaking to Express News, Manika said that no party can form a government in Punjab without including forward block members.
He was of the view that it is difficult for the PPP and the PML Q to destabalise the PML-N government in the province, adding that no party wants to play any role in forcing the PPP to quit the federal government.
updated from print edition (below)
Nine-point agenda: PML-N reminds PPP of impending deadline
Though the PPP-led coalition seems to have wriggled out of a crisis after winning over the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the main opposition party – the PML-N – has reminded the ruling party that it will stick to the deadline it set earlier this week.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had given the government – which had lost its majority in the centre with the MQM gone - until January 10 to respond to a nine-point agenda or else face expulsion from the coalition government in Punjab.
On Friday, Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah told journalists in Lahore that the PPP would have to respond, ‘yes or no’ to the PML-N’s agenda by January 10.
Sources in the PML-N have told The Express Tribune that the party has decided to de-notify seven provincial ministers from the PPP after the expiry of the deadline.
However, to counter this, the Punjab chapter of the PPP is considering forming a coalition government with the help of the PML-Quaid, if need be, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Sanaullah shifted the blame of the assassination of the Punjab governor to the PPP saying that the ruling party had failed to provide proper security to Salmaan Taseer.
Federal Law Minister Babar Awan has described Taseer’s murder as a political killing. But Sanaullah said Awan was happy with the murder because he was aspiring for the office of the governor Punjab. “Although Taseer was not a religious man, his death was the result of a controversy between the PPP and religious parties over the blasphemy laws,” he added.
Earlier Punjab Senior Minister Raja Riaz said that if PML-N would de-notify provincial ministries from the PPP, the party would form a coalition government with the PML-Q.
Awan accused the PML-N of supporting Salmaan Taseer’s assassin. He also claimed that the president of PML-N lawyers’ wing at Islamabad had garlanded Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri. He also said that the PPP would respond to the PML-N deadline after January 10.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 8th, 2011.
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Punjab members on Saturday sent recommendations to their leadership advising it to quit the coalition in Punjab.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had given the government until January 10, 2011 to respond to a nine-point agenda or else face expulsion from the coalition government in Punjab.
Talking to the media outside the Governor House in Lahore, PPP Punjab President Imtiaz Safdar Warraich asserted that the decision to pull out of the provincial government cannot be reversed.
Meanwhile, member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) forward block Atta Muhammad Manika said that his party will support the PML-N in Punjab.
Speaking to Express News, Manika said that no party can form a government in Punjab without including forward block members.
He was of the view that it is difficult for the PPP and the PML Q to destabalise the PML-N government in the province, adding that no party wants to play any role in forcing the PPP to quit the federal government.
updated from print edition (below)
Nine-point agenda: PML-N reminds PPP of impending deadline
Though the PPP-led coalition seems to have wriggled out of a crisis after winning over the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the main opposition party – the PML-N – has reminded the ruling party that it will stick to the deadline it set earlier this week.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had given the government – which had lost its majority in the centre with the MQM gone - until January 10 to respond to a nine-point agenda or else face expulsion from the coalition government in Punjab.
On Friday, Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah told journalists in Lahore that the PPP would have to respond, ‘yes or no’ to the PML-N’s agenda by January 10.
Sources in the PML-N have told The Express Tribune that the party has decided to de-notify seven provincial ministers from the PPP after the expiry of the deadline.
However, to counter this, the Punjab chapter of the PPP is considering forming a coalition government with the help of the PML-Quaid, if need be, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Sanaullah shifted the blame of the assassination of the Punjab governor to the PPP saying that the ruling party had failed to provide proper security to Salmaan Taseer.
Federal Law Minister Babar Awan has described Taseer’s murder as a political killing. But Sanaullah said Awan was happy with the murder because he was aspiring for the office of the governor Punjab. “Although Taseer was not a religious man, his death was the result of a controversy between the PPP and religious parties over the blasphemy laws,” he added.
Earlier Punjab Senior Minister Raja Riaz said that if PML-N would de-notify provincial ministries from the PPP, the party would form a coalition government with the PML-Q.
Awan accused the PML-N of supporting Salmaan Taseer’s assassin. He also claimed that the president of PML-N lawyers’ wing at Islamabad had garlanded Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri. He also said that the PPP would respond to the PML-N deadline after January 10.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 8th, 2011.