Overview
- A PML-N team led by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar met President Asif Ali Zardari in Nawabshah, and both sides agreed to stop trading barbs and pursue direct talks, officials said.
- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif phoned PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to discuss the political situation and the flood response, according to the PPP media cell.
- The rift began over whether to channel flood aid through the Benazir Income Support Programme and intensified after Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s comments on water rights and the Cholistan canal.
- PPP lawmakers walked out of the National Assembly and Senate, and leaders warned the government could lose its working edge in the upper house without PPP support.
- President Zardari asked Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to facilitate mediation, and officials rejected social-media rumors suggesting military leadership harbored political ambitions.