President Asif Ali Zardari has tasked Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to facilitate mediation between the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its ally, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), sources told on Tuesday. Naqvi will meet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif today (Wednesday), where he will request that the premier play a role in calming tensions between the two parties, they added. The rift between PML-N and PPP intensified a day earlier when PPP leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf walked out of the National Assembly session, saying that his party would not participate in the proceedings until they received a clarification over the Punjab ministers’ remarks about Sindh. Taking the division between the PPP and PML-N as an opportunity, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Qaiser offered the former his party’s support in moving a no-confidence motion in the lower house. “If they [PPP’s leadership] are serious, they should bring a no-confidence [motion], and we will support it,” he said. He added: “We will help them topple the government [in the Centre]. I am offering – bring a no-confidence now and you will have our complete support.” Leaders from the PPP and PML-N, especially ministers in the Punjab and Sindh governments, have been engaged in a war of words over a wide range of national issues. Top PPP leaders have slammed several remarks made by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz about flood relief efforts, Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), and the disputed canals project in the province.
Naqvi tasked with mediating between PML-N, PPP
Published on: October 8, 2025 2:57 AM