\u2022 Marri, Shah and Jhakrani meet premier, brief him on canals project, power sharing issues in Punjab
\n\u2022 Insiders say CM Maryam not open to input on postings, transfers; unlikely to relent on ally\u2019s demands<\/p>\n
LAHORE \/ KARACHI: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has promised to do his best to resolve the PPP\u2019s reservations over the Cholistan canals project, as well as the party\u2019s misgivings over \u2018power sharing\u2019 in Punjab, which were conveyed to him by a PPP delegation that met him over the weekend.<\/p>\n
PPP leader Shazia Marri, accompanied by senior parliamentarians Syed Khursheed Shah and Aijaz Jakhrani, gave a briefing to the prime minister on the pros and cons of the canals project that will see water drawn from the Indus, a source privy to the development told Dawn. It has caused great consternation among the people of Sindh.<\/p>\n
But despite describing their discussion as being a \u201cpleasant meeting held in a cordial environment\u201d, PPP leaders said they had subtly reminded PM Shehbaz of unmet promises and raised concerns over how their party was being side-lined in key decisions.<\/p>\n
The PPP delegation was also irked by the \u201ccold shoulder\u201d treatment continuously meted out to them by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, sources said.<\/p>\n
The meeting, held at National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq\u2019s residence, came as political figures gathered to congratulate National Assembly Deputy Speaker Ghulam Mustafa Shah on his son\u2019s wedding.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was not a tense discussion,\u201d Ms Marri \u2014 a PPP spokesperson \u2014 told Dawn.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe atmosphere was very pleasant, as we were all there to share in the happiness of our parliamentary and party colleague. However, we did raise a few points with the prime minister, and he listened patiently. Unfortunately, despite previous complaints and assurances, progress has been slow. Still, this recent meeting has renewed our hopes. We presented our concerns, and the prime minister listened attentively.\u201d<\/p>\n
She specifically highlighted the party\u2019s concerns and objections regarding the six new Indus canals, saying that instead of addressing the coalition partner\u2019s points, PPP\u2019s sentiments were dismissed with \u201charsh statements\u201d from the PML-N side.<\/p>\n
This was a reference to Ahsan Iqbal, who had dismissed the PPP\u2019s concerns last month as being \u201ca baseless debate\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn one hand, we are not being heard, and on the other, senior members of your party make harsh remarks, calling our reservations a baseless debate. This has deeply hurt the party\u2019s sentiments,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Though PM Shehbaz promised to resolve the power-sharing dispute, many within the PML-N doubt that he would be able to convince his niece to accommodate the PPP any more than she already has.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2022 Marri, Shah and Jhakrani meet premier, brief him on canals project, power sharing issues in Punjab \u2022 Insiders say CM Maryam not open to input on postings, transfers; unlikely to relent on ally\u2019s demands LAHORE \/ KARACHI: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has promised to do his best to resolve the PPP\u2019s reservations over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5399,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5397\/revisions\/5399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}