PM Shehbaz Sharif discussing key political, financial issues with allies today

• Sources say PM Shehbaz Sharif has meetings with Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi, Asif Ali Zardari, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and others
• Say premier will take allies into confidence over his recent meeting with Nawaz Sharif in London.
  
• Say consultation over petroleum prices and political situation will also be held.

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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is separately meeting with the heads of allied parties today (Monday) to deliberate over key issues as the economic situation worsens and pressure from PTI for early elections mounts, Daily Jang reported.

Sources privy to the matter said that the premier will take the allies into confidence over his recent meeting with the PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in London. Moreover, they will hold consultations over the petroleum prices and political situation of the country.

Sources said that PM Shehbaz Sharif has meetings with MQM-P's Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi, Asif Ali Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman at different hours of the day.

The decision to meet the allies comes after the the prime minister's detailed discussions with Nawaz during the London huddle, which was also attended by key members of the Cabinet.

The PML-N leaders who attended the London meetings are tight-lipped and not sharing anything related to the party's strategy to deal with the economic crisis and ending the subsidies on petroleum products, which the IMF has linked with the revival of the loan programme.

PM Shehbaz Sharif to address nation 

According to the publication, PM Shehbaz Sharif may also address the nation in a day or two to take them into confidence over the prevailing financial and political situation of the country.

A meeting of the National Security Committee — the country’s apex security body comprising civil and military leadership — can also be summoned to appraise all stakeholders on the current situation, it added.

Shehbaz Sharif will present the options for dealing with the crises to the leaders of the coalition parties after which the government will take the final decision only after their approval.

Earlier, senior PML-N leader Rana Sanullah said that the PML-N would like take all the allies on board before taking the “difficult” decisions.

While talking on Geo News programme Naya Pakistan on Saturday, the minister said the PML-N has the ability to revive the economy, ruined by an incompetent gang, but there is a cost to it, and the PML-N is ready to pay its part of the cost. But, he said, the party is not ready to take responsibility for everything. He said that all other allies must come clear and show how much burden they were ready to shoulder for reviving the economy.