PPP ‘to support PML-N’ on legislative matters

But party decides not to come to Sharif’s political rescue<br />

KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has decided to cooperate with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in matters of national interest, including holding elections on time and bolstering the parliamentary system, sources told Daily Express.

But they added that the PPP is unlikely to support the ruling party on any legislation to save Nawaz Sharif; and if any such law sails through the National Assembly, it will make sure that it gets rejected in the Senate.

A decision to this effect was taken during a meeting of top party leaders, chaired by Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, said the sources.

The party, it is learnt, will stage protests and mount agitation against any law aiding Sharif, the ousted PM, in consultation with other opposition parties.

It will focus on targeting Sharif in its mass contact campaign for the next general elections with calls for “dislodging Sharifs to save the country” and “bringing Bilawal as next PM”. The election drive will mainly hit the Sharifs’ corruption and “poor” performances of the federal, Punjab and Balochistan governments.



According to a major decision taken during the meeting, the PPP would not sign another Charter of Democracy with the PML-N, or enter into a similar agreement with Sharif, said the sources.

The Bilawal-led party would not forge an electoral alliance with any anti-PPP party, including the PML-N, PTI, MQM-Pakistan or APML. But it would approach all disgruntled leaders of the PML-N, PTI and MQM-Pakistan, urging all of them to join its ranks.

The PPP would not tolerate any move to delay the 2018 general elections or support the PTI’s demand for early elections, said the sources, adding that it had decided to devise a comprehensive strategy for the Senate elections in March 2018 in consultation with like-minded parties.

The PPP, according to the sources, will announce major decisions during its December 5 public meeting in Islamabad and December 27 public gathering in Larkana.

It is also learnt that chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other prominent political leaders are making serious efforts to remove political tension between Sharif and Zardari.

Zardari is unlikely to meet Sharif any time soon; but if he does decide to do so, there is no possibility of a political rapprochement between the two parties, according to the sources.