News
Friday, April 22, 2011
PPP, PML-Q decide to halt ‘alliance’ process
By Muhammad Akram
LAHORE: The ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) have deferred their talks further over the question of the latter’s joining the federal government before the budget session in June as the party’s leadership has sought more time to weigh the pros and cons of the decision for the party, sources in both the parties told Daily Times on Thursday.
Sources in the PPP, however, were confident that the PML-Q would join the federal government as it had agreed for the time being to play the role of an opposition party committed to save the current democratic dispensation. “This is again the federal government’s various confidence building measures to bring the PML-Q on board for the sake of continuity of the system,” sources elaborated.
Sources in the PML-Q revealed the gloomy political scenario within the party, saying the ex-PPP men in the party had been opposing the move of joining the federal government tooth and nail, ostensibly, in the wake of general elections.
Sources said they believed that general elections could be drawn nearer by one single move at the national level either by the powerful military establishment or by an apex court’s decision on a political case or a move involving President Asif Ali Zardari or Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
Sources said that former PPP stalwarts, including Faisal Saleh Hayat and the scions of former president Farooq Leghari, were on the forefront to thwart the move by the Chaudhrys of Gujrat to join the alliance with party Secretary General, Mushahid Hussain Syed, playing the role of a mediator between the two factions with a definite tilt towards those who are against the move to provide the PPP a breather at a time when it was struggling to get the national budget passed for the next fiscal year.
Sources in the PPP, however, were of the view that the party’s high command had received some positive signals from the military establishment over the question of smooth sailing of the budget.
Sources believe that the PPP government has been hinting at taking numerous measures to widen the resource base for a healthy kitty in the next budget but because of a simple majority in parliament it may fall short of putting the economy back on track by silencing the unnecessary opposition to the documentation of the economy through the imposition of reformed general sales tax (RGST).
Sources in the PML-Q said the party had scored many a political points against its archrivals, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and found it better placed in any electoral situation with it being on the side of the ruling PPP.
Sources, however, clarified the debate was still going on within numerous party circles that old PPP men in the party were favouring an alliance with PML-N rather than the PPP for the sake of their own political careers in their respective constituencies.
Sources in PML-Q said the party’s high command was convinced of a split in the party ranks whether it joins the government or decide otherwise as the old PML-N men in the party were in favour of joining the government sooner than the latter.
“Their argument carries weight too,” said the sources, adding, “Since they have different political stakes than those who came from the PPP.”
“This split is bound to surface whenever the party will be faced with the question of tilting towards the PPP or the PML-N,” they prophesied.
The party has successfully avoided this situation during the past three years when it remained a lame duck due to the PML-N’s intimacy with the PPP either as a coalition partner in Punjab or as a ‘friendly opposition’ as the party being described for its quest to let the system continue till the next general elections which it believe it can win with thumping majority.
Sources in the PPP believe that the PML-Q has sought more time from PPP for the alliance, saying it needed a strategic retreat at present to weigh the losses it has to suffer and gains it may earn after joining the federal government.
Political observers have been describing the recent political overture of the PML-N as overdoing and an attempt aimed at accelerating the process of undermining the current political dispensation with its possible replacement with a government of technocrats it had been itself fearing besides the mentioning of the same as a conspiracy by the president and prime minister of the country.
The observers were of the view that the hawks in the PML-N had been calling the shots on all major policy decisions aimed at putting the PPP government on the mat, while ignoring the fact that only these two parties had a common and shared goal of successfully leading the political system to the next general elections without interruptions.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk