President Zardari tasks Naqvi with mediating between PML-N, PPP

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  President Asif Ali Zardari （right） and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. — NNI/NNI/File

ISLAMABAD: As tensions escalate between the ruling coalition partners — the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz （PML-N） and the Pakistan Peoples Party （PPP） — President Asif Ali Zardari has tasked Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi with mediating between the two allies, sources told Geo News on Tuesday.

Naqvi will meet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tomorrow （Wednesday）, where he will request that the premier play a role in calming tensions between the two parties, they added.

The rift between PML-N and PPP intensified a day earlier when PPP leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf walked out of the National Assembly session, saying that his party would not participate in the proceedings until they received a clarification over the Punjab ministers\“ remarks about Sindh.

Taking the division between the PPP and PML-N as an opportunity, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf （PTI） leader Asad Qaiser offered the former his party\“s support in moving a no-confidence motion in the lower house.

“If they [PPP\“s leadership] are serious, they should bring a no-confidence [motion], and we will support it,“ he said.

He added: “We will help them topple the government [in the Centre]. I am offering — bring a no-confidence now and you will have our complete support.“

Leaders from the PPP and PML-N, especially ministers in the Punjab and Sindh governments, have been engaged in a war of words over a wide range of national issues.

Top PPP leaders have slammed several remarks made by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz about flood relief efforts, Benazir Income Support Programme （BISP）, and the disputed canals project in the province.
\“Allies not slaves\“

PPP leader Palwasha Khan became the latest leader from her party to express frustration with their ally.

At a press conference in Islamabad, Khan stated that the PML-N formed the government in the Centre thanks to her party\“s help.

“Peoples Party is not your [PML-N\“s] slave. Alliance does not mean slavery,“ she said, adding that her party wanted democracy to thrive in the country.

The PPP leader alleged that the Punjab government\“s criticism of Sindh and the PPP was actually aimed at the federal government.

“Peoples Party does not want to get in the middle of this fight. You fight inside your house. Punjab government does not like seeing [PM] Shehbaz Sharif sitting on his seat,“ Khan said.

PPP will continue to speak about Punjab, she said, emphasising that the PML-N did not represent the entire province, and that their criticism of the provincial government was not directed at the people.

“Get used to being asked questions. Take criticism positively. We do not want to respond in the tone in which you are speaking,“ the PPP leader stated.