Shehbaz, Bilawal to meet next week to discuss anti-govt protests

PML-N president to invite Bilawal to participate in PDM's long march on Islamabad

ISLAMABAD:

A meeting between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is expected next week, a source revealed on Sunday.

The PPP and PML-N are currently in contact at the leadership level. Sources maintain that a meeting between the chiefs of both parties is expected in Islamabad next week.

The meeting would take place in the Parliament House during the upcoming National Assembly session and would aim to organise effective anti-government protests by the Opposition.

Sources further claim that the meeting between Shehbaz and Bilawal would discuss the PPP and the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) long march on Islamabad, and the PML-N president on behalf of the PDM will invite Bilawal to participate in its march.

If Bilawal does not agree to participate in the march, then the PDM will adjust its schedule with the PPP’s march, they reported.

Reports of a meeting came a day after the Opposition lashed out at the government for its mishandling of the influx of tourists in Murree and inadequate preparations, following the tragedy at the hill station that left at least 22 dead.

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PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif said he was “heartbroken” over the death of tourists in Murree.

"Where was the government all the while? What arrangements did it make to deal with such an influx? Incompetence is fast turning into criminality. Prior arrangements & round the clock supervision were the normal SOPs in the past."

Shehbaz also expressed his condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for the departed souls.

PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also expressed his sorrow over the Murree tragedy, saying that the whole nation was saddened over the incident.

“It would have been better if the tourists were informed about the weather in Murree in advance,” he said in a statement issued by his party’s media cell on Twitter.