ISLAMABAD: A brewing conflict between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on power-sharing in Punjab, if left unresolved, may erupt in the fall of the Shehbaz Sharif-led government.
This was the consensus of PML-N and PPP second tier leadership lamenting the refusal of Maryam Nawaz Sharif led Punjab government to entertain the PPP in the province on condition of strict anonymity.
One PML-N stalwart who wished not to be named told Business Recorder that given the PPP numbers in the Punjab assembly, the Chief Minister Punjab was not wrong in keeping the PPP at bay.
While a PPP leader remarked that without considerable assistance from the establishment, the PML-N was way short of forming a government in Punjab, like in the Centre.
Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz has refused to share or dilute her administrative powers even with a crucial coalition partner, and refused PPP’s requests for key appointments in district administrations and police, as well as the revocation of the Punjab governor’s authority to appoint vice-chancellors of public sector universities, sources added.
She has also declined to reactivate the Southern Punjab Secretariat, which was initially established during the PTI-led Usman Buzdar administration, a proposal publicly supported by Chairman Senate Yousaf Raza Gilani in which PPP seeks a significant role.
PPP leaders have expressed their dissatisfaction over the lack of funds for their MNAs and MPAs in Punjab, as well as being sidelined in governance matters.
President Asif Ali Zardari went twice to Lahore in an attempt to resolve the deadlock with the PML-N leadership, but his efforts have yet to yield any significant result.
A scheduled meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday was cancelled ostensibly due to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari other commitments but sources said he may address the increasingly cantankerous Punjab issue during today’s scheduled high-powered selection board meeting for the promotion of Grade 21 officers to Grade 22, which is taking place after a hiatus of over two years.
The PPP’s core committee is set to convene next week to evaluate the overall political situation, particularly in Punjab, and discuss its alliance with the PML-N.
At the federal level the PPP has shown its opposition to the decision to construct a link canal from the Indus River and the PML-N’s unilateral decision to establish the Pakistan Maritime and Seaport Authority without consulting them. Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider, a PPP leader, has described the coalition with the PML-N as a “disappointing experience,” stating that only 20% of the commitments made under the alliance have been fulfilled, while 80% remain unresolved.
He warned that if the partnership fails to deliver results, there would be no room for future alliances between the two parties.
Shaukat Basra, a senior leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) stated that his party is not competing with the PML-N or the PPP, but with the establishment that brought both these parties to power.
“We are not in a competition with both the parties [PPP, and PML-N] as our competition is with the establishment,” he maintained.
Basra lamented the ongoing harassment of PTI workers and leaders in the Punjab and claimed that the police was targeting PTI members instead of addressing crime.
PTI Punjab chief organizer Aliya Hamza criticized the government’s failures in wheat procurement, decline in cotton crop, lower tax growth, increasing fuel and power prices, and unbridled inflation, which are adversely affecting the lives of the poor.
She said that the party will take to the streets against the “fascist regime and its handler” after Eid in Punjab, besides holding protest in other major cities of the country.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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