Tuesday night saw leaders of major political parties in a multi-party news conference in Islamabad including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.
The leaders stated that all political parties, including Imran Khan-founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), should work together for the country.
Conspicuous in his absence was PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, this being more pronounced given he had said earlier in the day that the PPP would only help the PML-N get its premier elected and provide the required support to legislative proceedings on an issue-to-issue basis.
Bilawal had also rejected the idea of going for a “PDM-2” government and announced pulling out of the candidacy for the prime minister’s post.
Are the father and son at odds with each other over the coalition issue or are they playing good cop-bad cop?
When asked, a senior PPP leader did not agree with the two propositions, saying nothing is intriguing in all this and the matter is a bit technical. Requesting anonymity, the PPP leader said that Asif Zardari is the president of PPP-Parliamentarians and his presence in the press conference to announce the coalition was quite appropriate
