LAHORE, Dec 6 Balochistan Chief Minister Aslam Raisani had a luncheon meeting with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif here on Sunday.

Though no details of the meeting were given, political circles believe that Mr Raisani is again active on behalf of the Pakistan People's Party to defuse tensions between the PPP and PML-N. He reportedly sought PML-N's support for the Balochistan Package, which would be taken up by a joint session of the parliament on Monday (today).

Mr Raisani had earlier been active in bringing closer the two parties when these were fighting on the judges issue.

PML-N Punjab Information Secretary Khwaja Ahmad Hassaan confirmed the meeting, but did not divulge details, saying that he was not in attendance.

Later, the Balochistan chief minister called on his Punjab counterpart Shahbaz Sharif and discussed with him the Balochistan Package, National Finance Commission Award and national security. Mr Shahbaz said misunderstandings among the federating units should be removed. He said the federation could not be strengthened without making all four provinces financially stable and prosperous. He said Balochistan must be given its rights and the areas neglected in the past in development works should be given attention.

Mr Raisani praised his counterpart, especially for conceding to revisit the NFC formula to include backwardness too as a factor for distribution of federal divisible pool and build a cardiac hospital in Quetta.

He said these steps would promote national unity and strengthen the federation. He said “we have to compensate for the past mistakes and give federating units their rights”.

Adviser to the Punjab chief minister Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa, senior minister Raja Riaz and finance minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira were also present.