President Asif Ali Zardari said Thursday that the meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur was a “good beginning”.
Shehbaz’s government came into power this month, after his party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) formed an alliance with Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and other smaller parties.
In opposition, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which has formed its government in the KP province, claims that the PML-N and the PPP secured victory in the February 8 elections by “stealing” PTI’s mandate.
The relation between these parties has for years remain strained, Gandapur, after being elected as the chief minister, saying that although he doesn’t accept the PML-N’s government, he would still keep a working relationship with the Centre.
As part of this, he met Prime Minister Shehbaz in Islamabad on Wednesday and hailed his first engagement with the chief executive belonging to the rival PML-N as “positive”.
In response, President Zardari has welcomed the interaction between the prime minister and the chief minister, a statement from the President’s Secretariat read.
“It is high time we start thinking of working towards healing the divisions Pakistan has been going through,” he added.
