With only four weeks left in the completion of the National Assembly’s term, political temperatures flared on Saturday as the vexed issues of seat adjustment and caretaker set-up ahead of the general elections took the centre stage, and parties kicked off politicking.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party patron-in-chief Jahangir Khan Tareen.
In a statement, the PML-N said that Zardari called on the premier at his residence in Lahore where the two deliberated over the country’s current political situation.
Well-placed party sources said that the leaders agreed to hold the next general elections on time while taking a firm stance that the polls should not be delayed under any circumstance. As for the caretaker set-up, the leaders decided on picking “a senior politician” instead of a bureaucrat as the caretaker prime minister.
The caretaker prime minister is picked by the outgoing prime minister in consultation with the leader of the opposition.
Separately, the prime minister also visited Tareen and extended condolences over the demise of the IPP leader’s brother, Alamgir Khan Tareen.
According to a press release from the Prime Minister’s office, Shehbaz conveyed his deep sympathies to Tareen and his family during this difficult time. As a gesture of respect for the deceased, he prayed for the elevation of the late Alamgir Tareen’s rank in the hereafter, and asked for divine strength and patience for the mourning family.
The meetings came hot on the heels of reactions of the PPP and the newly formed IPP after PML-N indicated that the party would be contesting the polls solo in Punjab, showing reluctance to go for a seat adjustment.
