PML-N, PPP deny Nawaz-Zardari contact

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Tuesday rejected media reports about a telephonic conversation between Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari for a meeting.

The national media had reported that the two leaders had a telephonic conversation and agreed to meet in January. It was reported that the two leaders had also exchanged views on the country’s political situation.

However, in a statement, PML-N Spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb denied the media reports and said there was no telephonic conversation between Nawaz and Zardari. She urged the media to refrain from airing stories based on speculations.

The PPP too said the telephonic conversation between the two leaders was nothing but a rumour. “We wouldn’t have hidden the news if the two leaders had spoken to each other,” PPP leader Farhatullah Babar said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan People’s Party said political victimisation is being done in the name of accountability (Ehtesab). The “political victimisation is being carried out in the name of accountability and the aim is to pressure the opposition political parties. They have forgotten that if Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf could not bring us under pressure through political victimisation then how the prime minister of today could do it,” said the PPP Secretary Information Senator Maula Bukhsh Chandio and PPP Parliamentarian's Secretary Information Dr Nafisa Shah while talking to newsmen in Islamabad.

Senator Chandio said the prime minister wanted to remove the PPP leadership in the name of accountability. He said the real aim was to undo the 18th Amendment but they will not succeed. He alleged that the PTI-led government was a government of puppets who had paralyzed the state institutions and the Parliament. “The production order of Khawaja Saad Rafique is not being issued which is an act of paralyzing Parliament,” he said. He said the PPP always struggled against dictatorship and worked for democracy. “We passed the 18th Amendment. No president in the history of Pakistan gave powers to Parliament,” he said. He said efforts were being made to derail the 18th Amendment in the name of accountability. Chandio said the former military dictator who used to say that he would not allow Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to get back was himself sitting abroad. He said all the guns had been directed at the PPP in the current situation and urged the state institutions to advise the government against taking such actions which put the country on the path of confrontation. He said all the political parties had been tied up and only one party was allowed to make shots.

“Governments always work to give relief to people but the present government still does not believe that it is in power and is not working on its manifesto. Rather than giving any relief to the people, the government has snatched everything from the people with the tsunami of price hike,” he said. Senator Chandio said the JIT was sitting in Banigala. “If Asif Ali Zardari’s sister is being watched then why there are separate rules for Imran Khan’s sister?” he asked. He said the case being framed against the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was of period when he was only one-year-old. He said the policy of confrontation never benefitted the government of the day. “The government always tolerates criticism but the present government instead of tolerating it replies with abuses,” he said. Replying to a question, he said the PPP had never favoured mid-term elections, as the people had given their mandate to the present government and they wanted that it should complete its five-year tenure. He said Parliament was the only solution for the resolution of the people’s problems.

The Secretary Information PPPP Dr Nafisa Shah said the real aim of the government was to undo the 18th Amendment in the name of the accountability.