LAHORE: In a fresh sign of relations between the two coalition partners hitting a new low, Punjab Governor Saleem Haider, who is affiliated with the PPP, on Friday complained that they were not being taken on board by the ruling PML-N in the decision-making process.

Governor Haider, who had earlier been venting out his anger through statements and by delaying the appointment of vice-chancellors to universities, this time expressed his frustration during a meeting with the participants of a security workshop being organised by the Islamabad-based National Defence University in the provincial capital.

“Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has become an empress. She never calls or consults me on issues of merit,” he claimed, while referring to the appointment of vice-chancellors.

“I won’t meet Maryam Nawaz now,” he declared.

Saleem Haider says PPP’s experience of joining hands with PML-N ‘bitter’

Highlighting PPP’s support for the rulers, the governor said the PML-N government “will come to its knees” if PPP withdrew its support.

Alleging that merit is being violated in Punjab, he emphasised that as an ally, PPP should be consulted in all governance matters.

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The governor pointed out that notwithstanding his constitutional office and protocol, he himself went to meet Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and tried to assure her that PPP would not create any problem for her.

“Over the past six months, I tried to contact her repeatedly by phone, but got zero response as she never consulted on any issue. So now I won’t meet her,” he said.

The governor said that the relationship between the two parties had reached a stalemate in Punjab and he had informed the PPP’s top leadership about the situation.

He recalled that the experience of forming a coalition with the PML-N was bitter in the past too. “Written agreements were reached and advisory committees were formed, but decisions were never implemented.”

Mr Haider said PPP expected that PML-N might have learned lessons from the past, adding that the current alliance was not out of love but of compulsion.

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Meanwhile, PPP’s vice president in Punjab, Rana Farooq Saeed, told a press conference that he would demand the annulment of the alliance in the forthcoming meeting of the party’s central executive committee.

He said PPP members were opposed to any alliance with PML-N, because the party never fulfilled any promises. “How long will we drag along? Something needs to be done now.”

Flanked by Azizur Rehman Chan and Bushra Manzoor Maneka, he said PPP had maintained a tradition of taking on board all provinces in key decision-making, but PML-N was constructing a canal on River Indus without seeking consent of other federating units.

He said that PML-N must take its allies into confidence over economic reforms as one-sided decisions would not yield positive results.

Relations between the two parties went sour soon after the passage of the 26th Amendment. Recently, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari went public with complaints about PML-N.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024