ISLAMABAD: What appears to be a tough warning, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has threatened that the federal government would “collapse the day the PPP withdraws support.”
“While we have said it again and again that the federal government has the PPP’s support, it would collapse the day PPP withdraws support,” PPP Spokesperson Shazia Marri said in a statement on Sunday.
The grim statement came against the apparent backdrop of PPP’s reservations regarding a crucial decision that the federal government lately took.
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The PPP was not taken into confidence regarding the decision to establish the Pakistan Maritime and Seaport Authority, Marri said in the statement.
The Sindh government and the PPP were kept in the dark regarding the decision to establish the authority, she said.
Demanding that the meeting of Council of Common Interests (CCI) be convened forthwith, Marri said, the Constitution is being “constantly and openly violated.”
According to her, the prime minister is constitutionally bound to convene CCI meeting every three months.
The issue of Maritime and Seaport Authority should be reviewed in the CCI, she demanded.
The PPP spokesperson asked if it was “wise to sabotage the constitution on important national issues, without taking allies and provinces into confidence.”
Recently, the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari censured the federal government over internet restrictions.
In recent months, rumours were rife suggesting that the younger Zardari was a strong contender to replace PM Shehbaz Sharif amidst the predictions of an in-house change.
However, the “unexpected” results of November 2024 presidential polls in the United States were said to have “changed the situation.”
The upcoming change in the US government on 20th January might potentially entail “problematic consequences” for PM Shehbaz Sharif and the powerful quarters too, political analysts predict.
The differences between the PPP and federal government became more apparent last month when Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) politician and former senator Shaheen Khalid Butt was appointed the Managing Director of Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM).
Before Butt, the post of MD PBM was briefly held by Syed Tariq Mahmood ul Hassan.
A senior government official, requesting anonymity, told Business Recorder that Hassan, who was appointed as MD PBM by the federal government last February, stepped down in March, due to the reported reason that PPP had expressed strong reservations over his appointment, which prompted the government to convey Hassan to step down.
The PPP, it is learnt, wanted the slot of MD PBM to go to one of its members. The lingering delay in the MD’s appointment was reportedly linked to continued delay on part of PPP in joining the federal cabinet.
Before Hassan, the position of MD PBM was held by Amir Fida Paracha, who belongs to PPP. He quit in December 2023 to participate in February 8 general elections.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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