- Zardari met Prime Minister Shehbaz at his Model Town residence.
- Both the leaders have agreed to hold the next general elections on time.
- The overall political situation of the country, elections were discussed in the meeting.
Days before the end of their five-year term, the top leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz – the two main coalition partners in the federal government – on Saturday met to deliberate on their political strategy for the upcoming general elections. Got united. On the interim arrangement, senior sources told geo news,
PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari today held a one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at his Model Town residence during which matters relating to the country’s overall political situation, caretaker arrangements and other issues were discussed.
During the meeting that lasted for an hour, the former President proposed to the Prime Minister to dissolve the Assemblies in the second week of August. PM Shahbaz assured that he would take all the coalition partners into confidence on his proposal.
It is pertinent to mention here that the present National Assembly will complete its constitutional term on 12th August. However, the Prime Minister claimed that his government would complete its term on 14 August.
The sources said the two leaders agreed to hold the next general elections on time and vowed “not to tolerate any delay in the polls”.
It was also discussed in the meeting that this time a politician should be appointed as caretaker PM instead of a retired bureaucrat.
The PPP co-chairman also complimented the Prime Minister on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal.
The IMF yesterday deposited $1.2 billion into the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) account, boosting the cash-strapped country’s hopes for economic stability as it teetered on the brink of default for several months.
The global lender’s executive board approved a $3 billion stand-by agreement (SBA) as part of the nine-month program. Pakistan struck a staff-level settlement with the lender last month, creating a short-term settlement that brought the crisis-hit country more money than expected by 230 million.
PM Shahbaz on interim arrangement
On 13 July, PM Shehbaz had said that the coalition government would hand over the reins of governance to an interim arrangement in August ahead of general elections in the country, which are likely to be held in October or November.
In his address to the nation, the Prime Minister said, “In August 2023, we will give responsibility to the interim government.”
The prime minister reiterated the circumstances under which the coalition government – a grouping of 13 political parties – came to power in April 2022.
,[We] cleaned up the mess of four years in 15 months and extinguished the fire on the economic and foreign relations front,” he said, adding that during its 15 months in power, the coalition government “did not take politics but the state Rescued.”
