ISLAMABAD: In a last ditch effort to maintain cooperation between the ruling party and the main opposition PPP, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is looking to end the animosity between Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, which has marred parliamen­tary proceedings over the past few days.

Following Friday’s procee­dings in the house that saw opposition members taking the interior minister to task over his incendiary role in the ongoing crisis, the prime minister held a marathon three-hour meeting with Chaudhry Nisar.

Separately on Friday, PPP Co-Chairman Asif Zardari deplored the exchange between the two men, calling it “unfortunate”. However, he hastened to add that Mr Ahsan was “justified” in his outburst, but the PPP would not make it a sticking point with the ruling party.

Sources privy to the meeting told Dawn that the prime minister sought to prevail upon Chaudhry Nisar not to respond to the remarks made by Mr Ahsan and Leader of Opposition Khursheed Shah on the floor of the house.

After leaving the parliament, Chaudhry Nisar had announced that he would respond to the allegations levelled against him at a press conference at 11am on Saturday morning. But on Friday night, the prime minister asked Nisar to meet him at 10am, ostensibly to prevail upon him not to add any more fuel to the fire.

Following the PM’s invitation, Chaudhry Nisar announced he had delayed his press conference at Punjab House and said he would hold it later on Saturday evening.

Sources told Dawn that the interior minister had taken Mr Ahsan’s remarks as a personal affront and was determined that he be provided the chance to respond.

During Friday’s proceedings, Nisar looked very agitated as the opposition continued to take potshots at him. The PM was seen repeatedly asking Nisar to stay calm as an enraged Aitzaz Ahsan rambled on.

His behaviour obviously disturbed the prime minister who called Nisar and urged him not to engage in this exchange any further. Senior PML-N leaders, including Nisar’s cabinet colleagues are also said to be trying to persuade the interior minister not to respond to Mr Ahsan’s remarks. But those close to the minister say he is determined to respond.

A senior PML-N leader told Dawn that Chaudhry Nisar would not do anything to aggravate the situation, but confirmed that he had refused to accept repeated requests by party lawmakers to end the controversy.

Zardari’s reaction

During an informal chat with a select group of reporters on Friday, the former president reiterated his party’s support to the PML-N government in dealing with the current political impasse, saying that the party was not doing it as a favour to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

“We support democracy and we want dialogue and only dialogue. We hope that things will improve,” he said in his opening remarks.

When asked what advice he gave the prime minister in their recent meeting, he said: “I can’t advise him. He is my elder and far more astute.”

“Whatever happened in the parliament today is unfortunate and not a good thing, but Aitzaz Ahsan was justified,” Mr Zardari observed, referring to interior minister’s earlier attacks against the PPP leader on the floor of the house.

“Despite the prime minister’s apology, some people have told us that things are different,” Mr Zardari said, but refused to elaborate.

Flanked by his spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar and former information minister Sherry Rehman, the PPP co-chairman said the citizens of Pakistan had ‘great expectations’ from the government and its inability to deliver had created a vacuum, allowing peripheral political forces and the establishment to take advantage.

When asked about the perception that he seemed to be with each side in the ongoing impasse, the PPP leader said, “This is not who I am. If I fight, I will fight openly. If I will compromise, I will do it completely.”

Published in Dawn, September 6th , 2014