Pakistan’s ruling coalition parties converge in Dubai for talks on upcoming general elections: Report

Senior leaders of the two ruling coalition parties in Pakistan— PML-N and PPP—are reportedly holding a meeting in Dubai to chalk out a political strategy on key issues, including the dissolution of the national assembly and setting the date for the upcoming general elections.

Express Tribune, quoting sources, reported that PML-N supremo and ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and party’s senior vice president Maryam Nawaz, PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, and his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari are currently in the city for the talks.

While Nawaz landed in Dubai on Saturday, Zardari arrived on Sunday.

It was further reported that some other powerful leaders are expected to attend the Dubai huddle, but nothing has been confirmed so far.

The venue for the high-level meeting was carefully chosen to be Dubai in order to avoid media scrutiny, the newspaper reported quoting sources from the ruling coalition.

Speaking to the newspaper, a senior PPP leader ruled out the possibility of a coincidence of these political bigwigs being present in the city and added that a meeting was likely to take place between the leadership of both parties.

“Well, you can’t rule out anything; these are politicians and present in the same city so a meeting between them won’t be a surprise,” the PPP leader replied to a query.

Set the ball rolling

The PPP leader confirmed that talks would centre around the dissolution of the assembly, the formation of a caretaker set-up and setting the date for the upcoming general elections.

The present five-year term of the National Assembly is reaching its end, and the country is expected to go to polls by the end of this year.

Giving a timeline, the PPP leader further said the dissolution of assemblies might take place a week before the government’s tenure ends.

The party leader added that the ruling parties recently discussed this matter so that they could have more time for their election campaigns.

“You will hear about these things in July; possibly soon after Eid,” he said.

Nawaz to return to Pakistan?

Additionally, speculations are rife that Nawaz Sharif, brother of incumbent PM Shehbaz Sharif, might join politics again and participate in this year's general elections, news agency PTI reported.

The murmur gained ground after Pakistan’s National Assembly on Sunday passed the bill to limit the lifetime disqualification of lawmakers to five years, freeing Nawaz to return from London to resume active politics.

The 73-year-old was disqualified for life in 2017 by the Supreme Court and later convicted in corruption cases by the accountability courts.

Nawaz has been living in self-exile in the United Kingdom since November 2019. Before his departure to London on a four-wheel bail by the Lahore High Court on medical grounds, Sharif was serving a seven-year jail term in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case.

(With inputs from agencies)

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