ADDRESSING a meeting of the coalition partners on Tuesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appreciated that the allied parties manifested their democratic spirit and played a positive role to maintain unity and to steer the country out of challenges. He said despite time-to-time differences on certain matters, the allied parties remained united to face the challenges inherited from the previous government, adding, in a democracy decisions were made through consultation and were not imposed. The Prime Minister also lauded the efforts of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Army Chief General Asim Munir for success in getting deposits from friendly countries in a bid to help finalize the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
There can be no two opinions that the 13 parties forming a coalition at the Centre have their own political interests and therefore, divergent views not just on political issues but also how best to manage affairs of the country. It is, in fact, the policies pursued by the PTI Government that brought them closer to one another and agree on dislodging the previous regime through the vote of no-confidence. There were apprehensions that the parties would not be able to maintain unity in their coalition after the success of their mission to bring down the PTI Government and that they would soon fall apart. However, apart from the continued threat and challenges thrown by the PTI during the last one year, credit goes to the wisdom and sagacity of the leadership of the coalition partners for sorting out differences amicably through mutual consultation. It may also be pointed out that PML(N) and PPP have remained traditional rivals in politics but they worked shoulder-to-shoulder during this period in an effort to address major woes of the country. One also must give credit to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif whose policy of reconciliation enabled successful completion of one year in power. Differences did crop up but he moved quickly to sort them out through mutual consultation and the principle of give and take. He also managed best of relations with the Establishment and it was in this backdrop that not only Army Chief General Asim Munir used his good offices for ensuring inflows from some friendly countries but the Army leadership also gave a comprehensive briefing to the National Assembly on the security situation and the way out. As for the spirit of cooperative politics, it definitely served political interests of the parties involved but the real gauge of its success would be the level of satisfaction of the people over performance of the coalition partners.
