ISLAMABAD – Following the waving of olive branch from Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) during its meeting held at Raiwind, Pakistan PeopleÂ’s Party leadership after a brief meeting at Awan-e-Sadr Tuesday night also decided to observe restraint and stay away from indulging in blame-game.
Though there was no official word about the meeting of PPP leaders held at Awan-e-Sadr, the sources in the party disclosed that partyÂ’s Secretary General Jahangir Badr, Federal Minister for Information Qamar Zaman Qaira, MNA Farahnaz Isphahani and some other senior party leaders were called by President Asif Ali Zardari to discuss the controversy triggered by some former secret agencies operators implicating the mainstream politicians in dirty power game in the past.
Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar denied occurrence of such meeting but the sources in the party insisted that the senior party leaders were summoned by President Zardari to discuss the controversy.
The sources further said that it was on the directives of the President that Premier Gilani had contacted Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on telephone from Libya and requested him to stop his party men from issuing provocative statements and assured him that PPP leaders would also avoid commenting on these thorny issues of the past.
The sources said that Jahangir Badr and Federal Minister for Information Qamar Zaman Qaira were strongly against indulging in the blame game and said that it would cause irreparable loss to democracy and democratic institutions in the country.
They said that instead of trading harsh statements with PML-N, with which they were also sitting in the coalition government in Punjab, the people behind the whole drama should be exposed.
They further said that the people behind all this could not be democratic or patriotic to the country as the whole exercise was aimed at destabilizing the incumbent political dispensation.
The sources further disclosed that it was decided in the meeting that all the party MPs and office-bearers would be barred from giving statements on the issue and only the party spokespersons and Federal Minister for Information would issue partyÂ’s point of view if and when required on the subject.
APP adds: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday called the Chief Minister Punjab and President PML-N Shahbaz Sharif from Tripoli (Libya) to express his serious concern over the exchange of accusations between some of the leasers of PML (N) and PPP and urged for restraint from giving provocative statements.
He said that democratic forces should not fall prey to the conspiracy of those elements whose even intentions are to derail this system. Welcoming the call from PML (N) Quaid Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to stop vilification campaign against each other, he said that we should join hands to foil attempts of destabilisation of political environment for the sake of democracy.
The Chief Minister also apprised the Prime Minister about the current status of availability of sugar and atta. The Prime Minister directed the Chief Minister to make all possible efforts for ensuring the availability of sugar, atta and other essential food items at affordable prices.
The Prime Minister accepted the Chief MinisterÂ’s proposal to hold a meeting of all the Chief Ministers to discus the issues of national importance.