August 31, 2008	Sunday	Sha'aban 28, 1429

LAHORE, Aug 30: In spite of repeated calls from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has no plans to quit the coalition government in Punjab. The PPP is also not going to move in Punjab against its former ally in the central government, at least not before the presidential election on Sept 6.

“Why would we leave the government in Punjab? If they (the PMLN) don’t want us in the coalition government they are free to throw us out,” a PPP minister in Punjab, who refused to be identified because co-chairman Asif Zardari has stopped party leaders from issuing statements against the PMLN, told Dawn on Saturday.

“We will not stay put if and when the PML-N tries to remove us from the government. We are not living in the 1980s,” he said.

The PPP has instructed its ministers in Punjab to stop attending their offices. “That does not mean we are quitting the government. We have been told not to attend the office so that we can give more time to co-chairman Asif Zardari’s campaign for presidential poll,” the minister said.

He said the decision regarding the future of the coalition in Punjab will be taken after the presidential election.

Federal Information Minister Sherry Rehman was reported by a TV channel to have stated that the decision on the fate of the PPP-PML-N coalition in Punjab would be taken by the leaders of the two parties, Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mr Zardari.

Another provincial PPP leader, who also refused to be identified, said the PML-N was able to form its government in Punjab only because “we decided to support it. The PML-N did not have the numbers to form its government then; it doesn’t have the numbers now to save it if we quit the coalition,” he said.

“Just remember one thing: we are not going to leave Punjab this time. Also, we don’t intend to remove the Shahbaz government unless we are forced by the PML-N to do so,” he said.

Since its separation from the multi-party coalition in the centre last Monday on the issue of reinstatement of the pre-Nov 3 judiciary, the PML-N has been urging the PPP to quit the Punjab government and sit on the

opposition benches in the provincial assembly.

“We are giving them (the PPP) an opportunity to quit the Punjab government gracefully. After we left the coalition in the centre it looks very embarrassing for both of us that we should have a coalition government in Punjab. We are asking them to quit the Punjab government on their own in order to avoid bitterness and the repeat of politics of confrontation as witnessed in the 1980s and 19990s,” PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal told Dawn.

In answer to a question, Mr Iqbal said the PML-N had the option to “throw the PPP out of the government if it did not act on its own and quit the provincial coalition. They should show moral courage, quit ministries and play the role of a constructive opposition in line with the letter and spirit of the Charter of Democracy. The charter spells out rules regarding conduct and behaviour of each party in the opposition and not in the government.”

The PML-N Leader claimed that his party had sufficient numbers in the assembly to defend its “right of government” in the province.

“If the PPP tries to remove our government in Punjab, we will resist the move,” he said in reply to a question. But he ruled out the possibility of the PPP taking any unconstitutional or undemocratic step to dislodge the PML-N government and re-launch the bitterness of the 1980s and 1990s in the presence of a strong civil society and free and outspoken media.