Lahore:
Whispering about a meeting behind closed doors, President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to Jati Umrah-Where he hosted the Sharif family-gave rise to quiet speculation within the PPP ranks about whether their leaders will continue to criticize Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz with the same candidate as before.
A well-placed PPP leader who spoke with Express Pakinomist expressed uncertainty as to whether the party’s tone against the minister of chief would now be re-read in the high profile, but discreet political hugs.
Repeated attempts to get clarity from senior people in both PPP and PML-N went unanswered, especially at this point.
Two PPP leaders requesting anonymity confirmed that Zardari and Punjab -Governor Sardar Saleem Haider hosted Maryam Nawaz Sharif over the weekend.
However, they could not ascertain who else from the Sharif family was present. One believed that Shehbaz Sharif may have attended the meeting while the other suspect Nawaz Sharif himself was among the hosts.
Given the collection’s Hush-Hush Nature, none of the manager was aware of the content of the discussions.
However, they speculated that the meeting could help drafting tensions and smooths over working conditions between the minister of chief and the governor, a partnership that has not been without its share of friction.
One of the leaders pointed out that with PTI effectively out of the formal political arena, the political competition in Punjab had boiled down to a “duel” between PPP and PML-N. He said that in such circumstances PPP could not afford to be seen by maintaining obviously cordial ties with PML-N, at least not in public.
“Punjab is extremely important if PPP is to form the central government. We may not have a realistic aim of forming the provincial government in Punjab, but unless PML-N feels really threatened with its home ground, it will never admit space for Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in the next period for the Prime Ministry,” he argued.
The same leader claimed that, according to information received through party lines, some of the members had been “communicated to take it easy” on their criticism of Sharifs.
However, he added, it remained unclear whether this advice was rooted in formal instructions or just a cautious reading of the political temperature.
However, the other PPP leader refused hard to receive such communication from the party leadership. “We will continue our constructive criticism of this government,” he maintained.
He also said that his own biggest question was why Zardari had been in Lahore for the past seven days. “Something feels out of place with this journey.” He noted that all events in the Governor House had been taken at the eleventh hour and in great haste.
According to him, an explanation may be that the governor himself is not particularly invested in the maintenance of his official residence.
However, he added a more speculative observation: “It seems that no one knew exactly about the duration or purpose of Zardari’s stay, especially in the Governor House.”
