“Our party says we consulted, they say we only informed. I think this objection is not valid at all. The PPP government has acted within its rights and appointed a person who is most deserving,” Haider said, adding Taseer had a “brilliant record of fighting dictators” and had been jailed and tortured during PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif’s two tenures as prime minister.

“There are jurisdictions that must be respected. We respect their jurisdiction, they should respect ours,” Haider said.

But Farooq pointed out that the PML-N was not only the PPP’s coalition partner at the centre and in Punjab but it was the “senior partner” in the provincial government.

In such circumstances, the PML-N should have been consulted in the matter, he said.

Sharif is expected to meet PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari soon to take up Taseer’s appointment and other issues troubling the two-month-old alliance that was formed by the two parties on March 9.

Taseer had served as a minister in the caretaker government formed by Musharraf to oversee the February 18 general election. The PML-N has said Taseer is a member of the “President’s camp” who is being sent to Punjab to destabilise the party’s government in the province.