Pir Pagara’s League to join PML-N govt in Centre

Shahbaz extends formal invitation to PML-F chief in Karachi.

KARACHI:

It’s official now.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) has formally announced that it will join a coalition government led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) at the Centre.

The announcement was made by Sibgatullah Shah Rashdi Pir Pagara, the PML-F chief and spiritual mentor of the Hurs, following a meeting with Punjab chief minister-designate Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday.



Senior leaders from both parties – including Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Syed Ghaus Ali Shah, Liaqat Jatoi, Imtiaz Shaikh and Pir Yasir – were in attendance.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Pir Pagara said that the overall political scenario and possible makeup of the next coalition government were discussed in the meeting.

Like in the past, the PML-F will extend unconditional support to the Nawaz League, he said, adding that the two parties would work together to steer the country out of the prevailing crises. During the meeting, Shahbaz Sharif formally invited the PML-F chief to join the PML-N government at the Centre.

Pir Pagara told journalists that the two parties would be coalition partners at the Centre, while in the Sindh Assembly they would sit on the opposition benches. The two sides also agreed to come up with a unanimous candidate for the slot of leader of the opposition in the provincial assembly, he added.



On his part, Shahbaz said that he has also invited Pir Pagara to the oath-taking ceremony of prime minister-in-waiting Nawaz Sharif. He added that the PML-N would take Pir Pagra’s party into confidence on all important decisions about Sindh.

He revealed that a senior leader of his party was in contact with Sindh Governor Dr Isratul Ebad to discuss the possibility of Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s inclusion in the coalition government at the Centre.

Shahbaz said the PML-N government would initiate a Metro bus service in Karachi and work together with the provincial government to reconvert Karachi into the ‘City of Lights’.

He said the PML-N would honour all the promises it had made during its election campaign and in its manifesto. He added that the government would take steps on a war footing to overcome the gruelling energy crisis in the country.

Shahbaz further said that the federal government would extend every possible support to the Sindh government to rid Karachi of the ‘bhatta mafia’ and end the ‘dacoits Raj’ in the rural Sindh.

He said the PML-N could also cobble together a coalition government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa – but the party respected the mandate of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and desisted from doing so.

About Balochistan, Shahbaz said that the PML-N would form a government with the help of all regional parties in the province.

Asked if President Asif Ali Zardari would complete his tenure as the president, Shahbaz said, “I’m not a soothsayer. I cannot predict the future.” He added in a lighter vein that Pir Pagara could make a prediction in this regard.


Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2013.