
The latest developments put the PML-Q in an especially crucial position. PPP leaders will be conscious that they have done well to have forged the alliance, and prevented the MQM from being able to place it in a still more precarious position by withdrawing support. This has also happened before. Even now, we do not know what the final outcome will be. Talks with MQM leaders are on, with the PML-Q, too, playing its part. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and his team have dealt with Altaf Hussain and his men as allies in the past and this experience may come in handy. Ideally, an attempt should be made by the PPP to bring the MQM back into the government fold, but in case that does not happen, the government is expected to survive, both in Sindh, where the PPP has a simple majority in the assembly, and at the centre, where the PML-Q’s entry into government brought the party the votes it needs to remain in power. We do not know what the final outcome will be. The scene on Pakistan’s political horizon tends to change quickly and unpredictably. Things move from one extreme to the other. Right now, the PPP stands accused of following dictatorial policies. We do not know if things will mellow out or if we will see a still greater political divide, which can only add to the complications we already face at a time when troubles stalk us on many fronts.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 29th, 2011.
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