An uneasy partnership

PPP and PML-N have held meetings for co-operation in by-polls

Inter-party relations after the recent general election are in flux. With by-elections imminent two of the major players are being forced by circumstance to consider a partnership that would have been unthinkable just three months ago. Both the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have held meetings to examine the possibility of cooperating in order to maximise their chances in the by-polls. Also at issue is who should chair the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which is a hot potato by virtue of the fact that the incumbent PTI is busy exposing the flaws and miscalculations that at least the PML-N was party to and which brought the economy to the parlous state it is in today.

A meeting at Parliament House involved the heavy artillery of both parties and leaks to the media suggest that the opposition is determined to give ‘a tough time’ in the coming polls and that a ‘joint strategy’ is being devised. Assuming a joint action plan is devised there is a promise to ‘reach out’ to other political parties.

There are sticking points, the most obvious being the PPP opposition to the prospect of the PML-N assuming the chairmanship of the PAC and that Shehbaz Sharif was the man for the job. The PPP in theory supports an opposition chairman — just not Mr Sharif, though there is no other obvious candidate of any stature or credibility. There are reports that the PPP wishes to see Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in the chair, a suggestion that is little short of preposterous given the obvious lack of qualification that he has for such a post.

Inter-party alliances even when focused on a single issue never fare well anywhere in the world and Pakistan is no exception. The polarities are stark; the egos in play too large to jointly occupy a narrow single bed. It is not impossible to surmise that the PTI, well aware of the tensions and rifts, ran a spoiler operation knowing the possible outcome. We await developments.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2018.

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