Asif Zardari expedites efforts to bring change in Punjab, Centre: sources

•  PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari expedites efforts to bring in-house change in Punjab, Centre.
• Renewed efforts underway with ‘mutual but influential’ help of friends to win PML-N's support for "power politics". 
• PML-N not responding to PDM parties' demands to provide date for long march.

ISLAMABAD: PPP co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari has expedited his efforts to bring an in-house change in Punjab and the Centre, well-placed sources told The News.

Renewed efforts are underway with the help of "mutual but influential" friends to win the PML-N's support for "power politics". 

Some PML-N members support the proposals suggested by the "mutual friends", however, sources said they have not received any response from the party leadership. 

"These proposals are not new and were categorically rejected by PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif time and again in the past," sources told The News. "Now we are being forced to at least give some serious thought to these proposals before taking any decision about them.” 

Sources said the PML-N leadership is also shying away from agreeing to the demand of the component parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to announce a date for the intended long march against the government. 

Asif Zardari to meet Chaudhry brothers

Sources said former president Asif Ali Zardari has decided to stay in Lahore for three days during which he plans to inquire after the health of senior politician Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. 

“Asif Ali Zardari will also hold an important meeting with Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in which Punjab's political situation will be discussed sources added.

“The presence of Asif Ali Zardari in Lahore at this time holds importance for those quarters who are trying to bridge gaps between the PML-N and the PPP.”

Sources said efforts are being made to bring the PPP back into the PDM's fold, adding that there is a realisation among Opposition parties that the government is benefitting from a split between them. 

However, well-placed sources tell The News that it will be hard for the PPP and the PML-N to trust each other wholly again as both parties blame each other for the PDM split that took place earlier this year. 

Both parties are also doubtful of each other's conduct because when the government succeeded in passing the NAB Amendment Bill, the Leader of Opposition in Senate, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, Mushahid Hussain Syed, Azam Nazir Tarar and other prominent members of the PML-N and the PPP were not present in the upper house of the Parliament.

“The PML-N also wants PPP to file its separate application in court against the NAB Amendment Bill because it thinks that they have a different viewpoint on some issues related to this legislation,” sources said.

PML-N preparing for general elections, say sources

PML-N sources, quoted in the report, said at a time when the party is receiving proposals for no-confidence motions, the PML-N (Punjab chapter) is busy preparing for the next general elections. 

“The PML-N (Punjab chapter) has submitted a detailed report to Nawaz Sharif about its contacts with elected members of the ruling party in Punjab but it has not been allowed to give any kind of assurances regarding the next general elections,” sources said. 

However, senior party members are also mounting pressure on the PML-N leadership to come up with a clear strategy, especially in the context of these proposals, before the upcoming public meeting in Lahore that, according to them, would decide the future course of action of the Opposition parties, they said.

When contacted, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told The News: “We are very clear about our political concepts and we think that free and fair elections are the only solution to the growing mess. We do not believe in no-confidence motions because they cannot be passed without support from the powerful quarters.”

He said the PML-N did not want the support of undemocratic forces to have no-confidence motions passed. 

"We will continue our struggle for fresh general elections in the country,” he stated. To a question, the former prime minister of Pakistan said, “There are claims that the establishment will stay neutral in politics but it should be visible on the ground otherwise no one can believe it.”