Aug 8 last day of assembly, PPP wants

Maulana Fazl ‘conditionally agrees’ on timely elections,

ISLAMABAD  – The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Monday advised the government to dissolve assemblies by Aug 8.

Federal Minister for Commerce Naveed Qamar, while speaking in Parliament House, stated that it was the federal government’s domain to dissolve the assemblies. The PPP, he said, wanted electoral reforms before the elections.

Mr Qamar emphasised that the caretaker setup should not exceed the constitutional period under any circumstances. He said his party would not back down from its principled stand on the subject.

The federal minister stated that consensus among political parties was essential for electoral reforms, as were issues like the RTS system.

While,

Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) President Maulana Fazlur Rehman has ‘conditionally agreed’ on timely elections in second meeting with Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif amid ‘political differences’, ARY News reported on Tuesday, citing sources.

Sources told ARY News that the PDM President held a second meeting with PM Shehbaz Sharif following the former’s reservations over Dubai meeting held between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

Sources claimed that Maulana Fazl has conditionally agreed on timely elections, saying that political decisions including elections will be accepted if “made from platform of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)”.

During the meeting, sources said, the JUI-F chief expressed reservations over position of PPP – the ruling coalition partner in Centre.

Meanwhile, PM Shehbaz apprised Fazlur Rehman of the decisions taken in the Dubai meeting between PPP and PML-N’s leadership. “Rehman was apprised that the meeting was held for confidence building on some issues,” sources claimed.

The PML-N president told Fazlur Rehman that his party would have taken the coalition parties into confidence for a mutual decision after ‘confidence building’. “We want decision as per Constitution, but will not surpass the PDM,” sources quoting PM said.