ISLAMABAD: The PML-N leadership appears to have lost all hope that the Pakistan People’s Party will implement its 10-point ‘reforms agenda’ and is preparing to ‘go all-out’ against the government after the expiry of the deadline given by it. Sources told Dawn that most senior members of the party at a meeting held on Tuesday with Mian Nawaz Sharif in the chair were of the opinion that after the expiry of the 45-day deadline the party should close all avenues of cooperation with the PPP-led coalition government and play the role of a ‘real opposition’.
The PML-N leadership, according to the sources, has already decided to expel the PPP from the coalition government in Punjab if it does not implement the agenda presented by Mr Sharif on Jan 4 suggesting measures to steer the country out of economic and political crises.
At its last meeting, the PML-N had decided to go to the public and use forums outside parliament to mount pressure on the government.
A press release issued after Tuesday’s meeting quoted Mr Sharif as saying that the government did not have the ‘capability to improve’.
Mr Sharif regretted that despite the efforts made by the PML-N to assist the government in implementing the agenda, it appeared that the goal was still far away.
Members of the PML-N committee headed by Senator Ishaq Dar briefed the party leadership on their meetings with the government team constituted by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to hammer out a plan for implementation of the reforms agenda. According to PML-N sources, Mr Sharif was unhappy over the way the PPP-PML-N committee was dealing with issues. He asked members of the PML-N committee to take a firm stand in future meetings with the government team to ensure implementation of at least some points of the agenda before the expiry of the deadline.
The sources said it was during the meeting that Mr Sharif came to know about the government’s move to convene a conference of all parties to discuss political and economic issues confronting the nation.
Some PML-N leaders saw the move as another attempt to delay the implementation of the reforms agenda because it was being called at a time when the government was left with only two weeks to show results.
There is a general belief in the party that the government does not want to implement the agenda because of political motives and is only buying time.
Soon after the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F and Muttahida Qaumi Movement quit the ruling coalition last month, the PML-N gave a six-day deadline to Prime Minister Gilani to say a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to its 10-point agenda and threatened to expel the PPP from the Punjab coalition if the reply was in the negative.
But the prime minister managed to overcome a crisis by persuading the MQM to return to the treasury benches and then calling Mr Sharif to express his willingness to implement the agenda.
The PML-N’s agenda mostly comprises its old demands, including removal of the ministers involved in corruption, setting up an independent accountability commission, implementation of the court decision on the National Reconciliation Ordinance and reduction in the size of the cabinet. The PML-N also wants an end to the energy crisis and seeks removal of corrupt bureaucrats and heads of various autonomous bodies and corporations. The agenda seeks re-constitution of the Election Commission, 30 per cent cut in government’s expenditures and measures to reduce prices of essential commodities to provide relief to the masses.
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