Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz leader Rana Sanaullah said on Wednesday that the Pakistan Peoples Party will be part of the government and will have to share the burden of responsibility going forward.

Speaking to Munizae Jahangir in Spot Light, Rana Sanaullah said that it does not matter if the PPP takes share of the cabinet, it will still be part of the coalition.

“If they are giving us the vote for PM, they will take the vote for president,” he said.

He added that PPP will be responsible for the government’s decisions as well and will be credited when something good happens and discredited when something bad happens.

Sanaullah also added that PPP could pacify itself in this situation but it will not be able to fool political workers.

“Based on past experience, a committee will be formed which will take decisions which will go for approval into cabinet,” he added. He said that the committee would mean an informal arrangement.

He said that the 16-month government was made of 13 parties and it had a similar arrangement for difficult decisions.

Sanaullah said that Shehbaz Sharif has ample experience of running a coalition government. He added that the previous coalition involved 13 parties and the new one would include three parties only.

He added that PPP’s involvement was simply a matter of ‘this way or that way’.

The former minister said that all of PPP’s top leaders in Punjab, including Qamar Zaman Kaira and Nadeem Afzal Chan, were good candidates for the post of governor.

On MQM, he said that there are no hard and fast rules for distributing ministries and matters can be worked out.

He added that the MQM was very vocal about constitutional amendments and that would be looked into.

However, he added that it was not a ‘need’ for the PMLN to keep the coalition intact.

Talks with PTI

Sanaullah said that his party had tried to talk to the PTI several times but the latter’s agenda was simply ‘chaos’.

He said that the PMLN has extended an olive branch multiple times, but had only received abuse in return.

Adding that he was personally unaware of any recent efforts at talks between the two parties, he said that Imran Khan was bent on destroying the country and it did not matter if people like Barrister Gohar were in the way.

He disagreed with the impression that PTI workers in prison were political prisioners. He said that these people had taken up arms against the state.

However, the minister also said that the court could order the release of whoever it considered innocent.

Sanaullah said that the PTI had not stayed within the confines of the protest allowed under the constitution.

He added that the protestors had attacked state installations and martyr monuments. He said that his own house had been attacked as well.

Reserved seats

Sanaullah said that there was no extension in the time to submit list of reserved seats by the Election Commission of Pakistan and no list was allowed to be re-submitted either.

He added that if the Sunni Ittehad Council has already submitted a list there might be a way to get seats but was unlikely otherwise.

He also said that the matter would not be held up simply because of the SIC and would be allotted whenever notified by the ECP.

Will Nawaz be involved in government?

Sanaullah said that Nawaz Sharif believed that he could only do what he wanted to do with a simple majority.

He added that the requirements attached with a coalition government were different from a majority. He said that Shehbaz was chosen as he had already headed a coalition.

The former minister said that every action taken by PMLN’s governments will need approval from Nawaz Sharif.

Who is responsible for internet restriction

The former interior minister said te responsibility for shutting down the internet rests with the interior ministry. However, he added that such decision are always made with consent of the prime minister.

He added that he did not know about the recent restrictions and the question would best be asked from the current officials.