ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) seek to reach an agreement on issues related to government formation during today’s meeting, even though their fifth session of coordination committees produced no significant advancements. PPP Information Secretary Faisal Karim Kundi reaffirmed to Geo News the party’s central executive committee’s intention to forgo having members of the federal cabinet in the next administration.
“[Our] experience with the PML-N during the 16-month alliance was not pleasant,” Kundi stated, emphasizing that neither party’s nominee can hold the prime ministership for more than two years or three years at a time.
However, he stressed that the party holds the right to contest for other constitutional seats.
The bilateral talks between the PPP and the PML-N, after none of the parties was able to obtain a simple majority in the February 8 polls, have gone on for days with the former maintaining its stance against being included in the cabinet.
After a three-hour meeting on Monday, the parties had originally planned to meet for a second round later in the day, but that meeting was postponed until Tuesday (today).
Despite having finalized the recommendations draft a day earlier, both parties chose to confer with their respective leadership prior to today’s meeting.
The PPP committee, however, did not show up for the meeting, and it was ultimately decided to have discussions on Tuesday.
According to sources, the party led by Bilawal Bhutto believed that the PPP would honor its pledge to support the PML-N in the prime minister’s race even if it meant leaving the cabinet. This belief stemmed from party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.
