PM Shehbaz ‘discusses’ floods, political situation with Bilawal over phone

Amid efforts to reconcile between two of the Pakistan’s largest political parties, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has telephoned Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and discussed the country’s prevailing political situation, floods and foreign policy, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said in a post on its social media account on Thursday.

For quite some time, differences have emerged between the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) over distribution of compensation funds for victims of recent floods that have devastated Punjab.

After the recent floods in Punjab, the dispute sparked between the two coalition partners in the federal government over the distribution of aid to flood victims.

The PPP insisted that aid should be distributed to flood victims through the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), which the Punjab government opposed.

President Zardari calls Mohsin Naqvi to Karachi amid Sindh-Punjab tensions

Negotiations between the PPP and PML-N to end the war of words over mechanism of relief efforts for flood victims ended inconclusively as the PPP staged a walkout in protest during the Senate and National Assembly sessions on Monday, while the government tried to convince its coalition partner.

Upon President Asif Ali Zardari’s invitation, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi held a discussion with the former in Karachi earlier this week to discuss about the rising tensions between the Sindh and Punjab governments, run by the PPP and PML-N, respectively.

Zardari reportedly also expressed displeasure at harsh statements from the Punjab’s government and its spokespersons, saying they were aggravating the political situation.

Then, in the wee hours on Thursday, President Zardari discussed security and political situation with Deputy Prime Minister/ Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar and Speaker of the National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.

The leaders called on the president at his residence in Nawabshah. Naqvi, was also present during the meeting, as per the APP.