Daily Times

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) stood successful in appeasing an estranged coalition partner as a delegation of the ruling party held final round of talks with the PML-Q leadership in Islamabad on Wednesday, a private TV channel reported.

The PTI delegation, which included Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, senior PTI leader Jahangir Tareen, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Arbab Shahzad, met a delegation of PML-Q, which included federal minister Tariq Basheer Cheema, MNAs Chaudhry Moonis Elahi, Chaudhry Salik Hussain and Chaudhry Hussain Elahi, in Islamabad.

The meeting took place after Prime Minister Imran Khan formed a committee of party leaders, headed by Pervez Khattak, to meet ‘annoyed’ government allies – MQM-P, PML-Q and Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) – in order to address their concerns.

“Difference of opinion occurs when you live in the same house,” Cheema told reporters after the meeting when asked if the PML-Q was still cross with the ruling party. He thanked Khattak and Tareen for ‘understanding their pain’. He said that PML-Q had some ‘demands’, and expressed the hope that those will be fulfilled soon. When asked what the demands are, Cheema said they are related to ‘development process’.

Khattak told reporters that it was not the first meeting between the two parties and said that they met to remove some ‘misconceptions created by people’. “We were allies before and will remain allies in the future. The misunderstanding [between us] has been removed and we will complete the five years of this government together,” he said.

While talking to media, Tareen denied that the PTI government is facing any troubles and said that he is confident that MQM-P will also return to the cabinet as talks with them are underway. He further said that several rounds of talks have been held with the BNP-M which have been ‘productive’.

Another TV channel claimed that the PML-Q warned the ruling PTI of ‘explosive’ consequences if the latter fails to release development funds and reduce interference in its ministries. The PML-Q asked the PTI to let it run its ministries with absolute authority and without any hindrances. The PML-Q further demanded the government to stop saying that Moonis Elahi wants a federal ministry. It conveyed to the ruling party that the propaganda suggesting a ministry was being demanded from the Centre by the PML-Q should stop. PML-Q’s Tariq Bashir Cheema reiterated his party’s demand that the development funds be disbursed immediately to help continue work in their constituencies. Reports of rifts between the PTI and its allies started circulating after MQM-P lawmaker Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui resigned as federal minister for information technology. They gained ground on Tuesday after Cheema, who is the minister for housing, failed to attend the federal cabinet meeting. Earlier this week, a PTI delegation, led by Planning Minister Asad Umar, met Siddiqui and other MQM-P leaders in Karachi. They insisted that the meeting was pre-planned and Siddiqui said that while he had resigned from the cabinet, his party had not backed down from its support for the government.