RAWALPINDI, April 21: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz held a meeting with President General Pervez Musharraf at the latter’s camp office here on Friday and discussed the latest political situation in the country.
Political analysts viewed the meeting as significant since it came on the heels of the president’s meeting with a PPP(Patriots) delegation.
According to sources, President Musharraf, who had promised to address the grievances of the Patriot leadership vis-à-vis the ruling PML, discussed ways and means to narrow the differences between the coalition partners that had flared when Patriot MNAs Raees Munir and Khalid Lund joined the PML.
Sources said the Patriots delegation had told the president that serious efforts were under way to merge their party with the official League. They claimed that the process of one of its lawmakers joining the PML had originated from the Prime Minister’s House and said such moves were unacceptable.
PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat on Thursday had brushed aside the complaint of PPP Patriots on the ground that the lawmakers who had joined the so-called official League were not exactly political novices who could be poached by another party at will.
General Musharraf expressed dismay over the deepening differences between the two key coalition partners as the date of the general elections neared and promised to intervene.
The president who was requested by the PPP Patriots leadership for enhanced development funds for their constituencies also discussed the issue with Premier Aziz.
Officials said that the president and prime minister had also discussed the Nishtar Park carnage and progress of investigation into the case. They resolved to nab the culprits in the shortest possible time to ensure justice.
The two leaders also discussed the issue of prices hike which had kept the just prorogued National Assembly engaged in a three-day debate with no tangible relief offered by the government.
They discussed various options to bring down prices of various commodities in light of the proposals put forward by MNAs in a parliament debate.
The president, who had hinted at starting a series of meetings with the coalition parliamentarians in order to discuss with them the strategy for going into the next elections, also indicated that he would convene a meeting of parliamentary leaders of the coalition partners in order to settle their internal differences.
The fresh meetings between exiled opposition leaders and their parties in London and at home also came under discussion.
