KARACHI:Amid mounting grievances over what it describes as broken promises and unilateral decisions by the federal government, the PPP leadership convened on Monday to review the political, policy, and development challenges it faces in the provincesparticularly Punjaband at the federal level.
As an ally of the PML-N government, the PPP also assessed the ruling party’s repeated failure to consult it on key issues in a timely manner and the unfulfilled commitments made to the PPP, both in Punjab and at the federal level.
The PPP leadership deliberated upon the issues in a meeting of the PPP’s coordination committee, which was chaired by Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, at Bilawal House Karachi. The party’s meeting was called to discuss the “ongoing political challenges”.
“On reservations with the federal government,” an official statement stated, “lack of timely consultation on political, policy and legislative matters, inability to implement commitments were identified as key stumbling blocks to be addressed.”
The statement said that the members recounted their ongoing and unresolved issues from Punjab, South Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh as well as “political, policy and development challenges at the federal level.”
It added that policy issues such as flood rehabilitation, water management controversies, challenges to the agricultural and digital economy and public interest legislation were discussed in detail.
Meanwhile, the official statement said, the party also took note of the rise in the incidents of terrorism and stressed the need to create consensus among the stakeholders to address the issue.
“Members also noted the growing surge in terrorism in the country and the absence of a new consensus to combat the new challenges resulting from new ground realities,” it read.
Subsequently, it maintained, the PPP Chairman directed committee members to “engage with political parties to determine on what issues political consensus can be formed,” to present recommendations before the Party’s central executive committee (CEC) later this month.
Earlier, amid growing rifts with the federal govt, Bilawal had formed a committee to engage directly with the PML-N-led federal government with directions to the committee to report back to the party’s CEC next month.
While the committee’s formation signals a willingness to negotiate, the PPP leaders have made it clear that its patience is running thin. With the power to destabilise the coalition, the party’s next steps could have significant implications for the government’s stability.
The committee, comprising senior PPP leaders and provincial heads, marks a significant step in the party’s efforts to hold its coalition partner accountable.
