Tag: coalition partners

  • ‘PPP is asking for share’: Another Shehbaz Sharif audio leak

    ‘PPP is asking for share’: Another Shehbaz Sharif audio leak

    Another audio leak of Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has surfaced in which he can allegedly be heard talking about the appointment of a Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) with an unknown person.

    The unknown person is allegedly telling the premier that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is asking for their “shares” for SAPM as well. PM Shehbaz then asks to share a document adding that “It’s not just PPP but others as well”.

    Context of the audio:

    In the transcript, we have written the unidentified person as “person”.

    Person: [Federal Minister For Economic Affairs of Pakistan] Ayaz Sadiq is saying PPP is asking for shares for SAPM as well.

    PM Shehbaz: Yes, Bilawal had spoken to me about it.

    Person: We have to appoint Zafar Mehmood and Jahanzaib. I will tell you the final number today.

    PM Shehbaz: Share the document, it’s not just People’s Party (PPP) but other parties as well.

    Person: Then Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) will also ask for it. MQM is naming Malik Ahmed Ali, saying that he had a critical role in this deal

    PM Shehbaz: Who?

    Person: Sir, he hails from Karachi.

    PM Shehbaz has formed a high-power investigation committee to probe the issue, particularly the leaks that involved the PM House.

    Earlier this week, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that the matter of the audio leaks is not related to an agency, but a few people, who have been identified. He added that these people were from among the staff of the PM House.

    Last month, PM Shehbaz and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders’ audios got leaked. The party didn’t deny the authenticity of the audio leaks. In one of the audio leaks, PM Shehbaz and an unidentified person talks about a power plant to be imported from India for PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s son-in-law.

  • Coalition partners finally decide to complete govt term

    Coalition partners finally decide to complete govt term

    The coalition partners have decided that the present government will go ahead with the completion of its term instead of early elections in the country, reports Geo News.

    The decision comes after a meeting of the heads of the ruling alliance today (Monday). The allied parties’ heads met to discuss the political situation in the country after the announcement of a long march towards Islamabad by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on May 25.

    As per the news outlet, the government has also decided to take tough decisions in a bid to steer the country out of an economic crisis. As Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has left for Doha, Qatar, for talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the tough measures will reportedly be taken in a couple of days.

    The Shehbaz Sharif government has stated that it needs support from “all sides” to take tough decisions in order to revive the economy.

  • Amid spiralling out crisis: Sri Lankan opp threatens govt of no-confidence motion

    Amid spiralling out crisis: Sri Lankan opp threatens govt of no-confidence motion

    The main Opposition party in Sri Lankan parliament on Friday asked the government to resolve the raging economic crisis or face a no-confidence motion, as leaders of businesses from garments to tea and other industries warned that exports could fall up to 30% this year.

    The heavily indebted country has little money left to pay for imports, which has led to crippling shortages of fuel, power, food, and increasingly, medicine. Street protests have gone on nearly non-stop for more than a month, despite a five-day state of emergency and a two-day curfew.

    Timeline of a crisis

    President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is running his administration with only a handful of ministers after his entire cabinet resigned this week, while the opposition and even some coalition partners rejected calls for a unity government to deal with the worst crisis in decades.

    At least 41 lawmakers have walked out of the ruling coalition to become independents, though the government says it still has a majority in parliament.

    “The government needs to address the financial crisis and work to improve governance, or we will move a no-confidence motion,” Sajith Premadasa, leader of Samagi Jana Balawegaya Opposition group, said in parliament.

    “It is imperative that Sri Lanka must avoid a disorderly debt default. The government must work to suspend debt and appoint financial advisers to start off the process of restructuring debt.”

    Parliament proceedings were suspended twice in the morning as rivals heckled each other, with two members temporarily removed from the chamber on the orders of the speaker.

    Nearly two dozen associations, representing industries that collectively employ a fifth of the country’s 22 million people, together urged the government to quickly seek financial help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

    “We need a solution within weeks or the country will fall off the precipice,” Rohan Masakorala, director-general of the Sri Lanka Association of Manufacturers And Exporters of Rubber Products, told a news conference.

    RESERVES PLUNGE

    Rajapaksa is struggling to find a new finance minister to hold talks this month with the IMF for emergency loans, after Ali Sabry submitted his resignation having spent just a day in office. A ruling party lawmaker said Rajapaksa had yet to accept Sabry’s resignation.

    “We are pushing the government and opposition to establish political stability as soon as possible and give us a way forward,” Masakorala said. “IMF should have happened yesterday.”