Restrain PPP in Punjab or president's address to parliament will be disrupted, warns PML-N

Decision made at an informal meeting chaired by Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif.

LAHORE:

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to convey to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) the demand to rein in its lawmakers in Punjab or be ready to face disruptions during the president’s scheduled addressed to the joint sitting of parliament on March 21, sources told The Express Tribune on Saturday.

The decision was made at an informal meeting of the PML-N chaired by Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif.

Discussing ways and means to tackle pandemonium in the provincial assembly, the participants also devised a strategy to persuade PML-Q lawmakers who are still supporting the parent party and have not joined the dissidents who label themselves as the ‘Unification bloc’ in the wake of their party leaders meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari.

Sources in the PML-N informed The Express Tribune that the intensity of the tumult at the provincial assembly on Friday had pushed their leadership to suppress PPP’s campaign against what they term ‘turncoats’, and at the same time defend members of the ‘Unification bloc’.

They said that Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan told the meeting that he had met PPP’s Raja Riaz during a business advisory discussion before the commencement of the assembly session on Friday and told him to maintain the decorum of the house, but he did not keep his commitment.

Suggestions were sought on how to deflect and counter the negative publicity generated by the debate on the issue of ‘turncoats’ which in turn was affecting PML-N’s own public standing.

Participants of the meeting, however, decided to convey in a strong manner to the centre through Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani to control PPP legislators in Punjab or be ready to face a similar situation in the National Assembly during President Zardari’s speech.

Zardari is due to address both houses of parliament on March 21 at the beginning of the fourth parliamentary year. He had earlier addressed parliament on September 20, 2008, March 28, 2009 and on April 5 last year.

Punjab Minister for Education and Excise and Taxation Mian Mujtaba Shujaul Rehman told The Express Tribune that it has been decided to give tough time to the PPP during Zardari’s speech in parliament. He said that PPP would “not be able to face PML-N’s strong opposition in the centre if it persists with its hue and cry in the provincial assembly”.

“It is now up to the PPP to decide whether it wants the president to face embarrassment or not.”

Mian Mujtaba said that PML-Q’s team which met with Zardari on Friday has “damaged the image of its leaders in the minds of the PML-Q lawmakers (who are still siding with them)”.

Of the 81 PML-Q lawmakers in the Punjab assembly, 47 had formed the ‘Unification bloc’.

He said that after Chaudhry Shujat and Chaudhy Pervaiz Elahi called on President Zardari along with a party delegation, several PML-Q lawmakers had “contacted the PML-N and their colleagues in the ‘Unification bloc’ and expressed their desire to join them”. He said that he expected that “at least half a dozen more PML-Q MPAs will soon join the Unification bloc”.

Earlier, Rana Sanaullah Khan accused the Chaudhrys of “completely disregarding Zahoor Elahi’s principles”, adding that PML-Q’s entire basis for existence was its insistence that Zahoor Elahi was allegedly murdered by PPP’s Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Commenting on PML-Q’s potential alliance with the PPP, he said that it would not be productive and would not bring any change to the country’s political set up.

Terming the PML-Q and PPP opportunists, he said that both parties would be rejected by the people whenever next elections were held.

He urged the PPP to respect the decorum of the house.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th,  2011.