Alliance in the air?

Any willingness to shake hands literally or metaphorically is a signal that Imran may have abandoned moral high ground

After years of eschewing any meaningful alliances with other political groups or parties, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is now indicating that, being unable to get satisfaction either from the courts or the PML-N government, that it may consider an alliance with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) if ‘they are sincere in offering opposition to the government.’ Considering that many view the PPP and the PML-N as two sides of the same coin this may represent something of a shift in position by Imran Khan, perhaps a move towards a more pragmatic engagement in the political process generally and away from the default position of confrontation and ‘everybody is wrong’ – except the PTI.



Any willingness to shake hands literally or metaphorically is – for some – a signal that Imran Khan may have abandoned the moral high ground in favour of an alliance that has political profit to be made from it. For Mr Zardari, the consummate deal maker, there are advantages to be had as well particularly as he is manouvering to gain seats in the House for himself and two of his children before the expiry of the current government. Having friends, albeit of convenience, in the House in the form of the PTI is not going to go amiss.

With the Opposition as provided by the PPP being more a matter of title than substance, any alliance is going to take some detailed wrangling if it is not to fall flat. The PPP will need to be more assertive in its opposition, and the PTI willing to face and work with some of the realities it has been in denial of for most of the last two years. For the PPP this comes at a time when its fortunes are at a low ebb and the hope is that Mr Zardari will revive them. For the PTI the government nor the courts have given it the ‘justice’ it sought and neither is likely to do so. Political alliances are rarely comfortable, and the party faithful may feel that they have been bypassed, but in the short term a handshake may create an opposition that really does oppose.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2016.

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