ISLAMABAD: A lawmaker from the Pakistan Muslim League (N) headed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif quashed rumors that the party had been split into two groups. Talking to Arab News, Sen. Sardar Mehtab Abbasi said no forward bloc had been formed in the PML (N) as claimed by Pakistan People’s Party lawmaker Qasim Zia.
Abbasi said perhaps only a woman MP had defected to the PPP and that the party was intact.
Meanwhile, PML(N) President Shahbaz Sharif claimed yesterday that Pakistan Muslim League-Q forward bloc had assured him of its conditional support.
Speaking at a gathering of lawyers in Lahore, Shahbaz said the PML-N does not trust President Asif Ali Zardari and would not believe in his commitments. The party will go ahead with its long march plan, he added.
Zardari, meanwhile, met JUI (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Awami National Party President Asfandyar Wali Khan and asked them to help broker a truce with Sharif brothers. Khan told reporters later he would meet Nawaz Sharif today and try for a reconciliation between the two leaders. Rehman will also hold a meeting with Sharif brothers today.
Responding to the move, Shahbaz said he would ask Rehman and Khan not to trust Zardari since the people of Pakistan no longer trusted him. He urged President Zardari to abolish the 17th Amendment, reinstate deposed judges and restore the Punjab government as it was on Feb. 25.
