Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has summoned a meeting of coalition partners on Tuesday (today), sources told Aaj News. They said that the premier would take the allies into confidence on the matters under hearing in the Supreme Court.

The current political situation in the country would be discussed with the allies in the meeting.

The development comes as the National Assembly rejected a motion seeking a supplementary sum of Rs21 billion for elections in Punjab. The Supreme Court had ordered the State Bank of Pakistan to issue the requirement amount after the government failed to do so.

But amidst this politicians have also been having meetings to convince their allies to have dialogue to resolve the crisis.

PPP meets PML-N

The Pakistan Peoples Party would talk to other parties after consensus among coalition partners in the ruling alliance about the need for having a dialogue with all parties to resolve the political crisis that has led to a stand-off between Parliament and Supreme Court.

“We are so far only meeting our coalition partners in the ruling alliance and when there will be a consensus [among political parties] then we will talk to other parties,” PPP leader Yousaf Raza Gillani told reporters after meeting a delegation of the PML-N on Monday.

PPP leaders Qamar Zaman Kaira and Naveed Qamar, PML-N’s Rana Sanaullah and Ayaz Sadiq were standing next to Gillani during the press talk in Islamabad.

The three PPP leaders are part of the party’s committee to engage with allies in the coalition government to reach a consensus on dialogue with all parties.

“The PPP wants to make a conducive environment for dialogue among the political parties as all the problems being faced by the county will be addressed through the dialogue process,” Gillani added.

He said the masses were looking to the political parties in the current political and economic situation. There was no concept of economic stability sans political equilibrium in the country and therefore, it was the best strategy to hold dialogue with the political parties especially those who were allies of the government, he added.

ANP Secretary General Mian Iftikhar Hussain said he was thankful to the PPP delegation led by Syed Yusuf Raza Gillani for approaching them for the dialogue. “It was a good step by the PPP and all the political parties should follow it as the country could no more afford unrest and chaos.”

He was of the view that the political parties would have to join hands for the supremacy of Parliament and to ensure that all institutions work in their domain.

It all required a democratic environment, for which dialogue was mandatory, he added, recalling, “Our dialogue efforts [when the ANP was leading government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa] had created awareness among the masses that terrorists had only objective to kill people and were not ready for talks.”

Mian Iftikhar said the unanimously approved Constitution of 1973 was the outcome of dialogue and consensus between the opposition leader, Khan Abdul Wali Khan and the Leader of the House in National Assembly Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

“Politicians need to end the ambience of uncertainty and for this, they should sit and work together for the supremacy of the Constitution, Parliament and other institutions,” he added.

He said the ANP was going to hold All Parties’ Conference in the federal capital on May 3, while the PPP had decided to build consensus among the coalition parties prior to holding dialogue with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf which was a positive step.

The PTI among all other political parties would be invited to attend the APC, he added.

Gillani said the media should not heed any hearsay regarding the dialogue process, which was initiated by approaching the coalition parties first. They would now approach the leadership of the Balochistan National Party, and then Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Balochistan Awami Party and others, he added.

Later, the PPP delegation met the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership.

On the occasion, Gillani said Asif Ali Zardari in his address at the National Assembly said, “We are for dialogue and political parties never shy away from dialogue as politicians make bridges and do not wage wars.”

He said their delegation met with the PML-N leaders that included Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, former NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and Khawaja Saad Rafique who attended the meeting via video link.

He said they presented their point of view that there was a huge depression in the country, which had badly affected the masses. At the time, the clash of institutions should not have occurred as it was not favourable for the country.

Gillani recalled Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif had bitter relations, but despite that, they both signed the Charter of Democracy (COD) in the larger national interest.

The two political forces under the COD made the constitutional amendment and then President Asif Ali Zardari under that legislation delegated all his powers to the Parliament, he added.

“We, all the political parties, worked for the supremacy of the Parliament. All parties unitedly made the constitutional amendment and established a parliamentary form of government after the formation of the government.

“After the COD, the PPP and the PML-N have never had any conflict on the transfer of power,” he added.

Gillani underlined that after completing its last government term, the PPP smoothly performed the process of transfer of power.

During the meeting, he said, the PML-N reiterated that they would make all-out efforts for the betterment of Pakistan, the supremacy of the Constitution and rule of law, democracy and the interest of the people.

“We don’t want to end the path of dialogue. We are so far approaching our coalition partners and after consensus, we will proceed to other political parties,” he ended.

To media queries, he said the Constitution emphasized trichotomy of power and if all institutions exercised powers within their constitutional limits then there would be no conflict.