The prime minister said this on Wednesday at the Sindh Governor House in Karachi, where he was holding a meeting with his coalition partners, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
Gilani’s comments appeared to refer (not by name) to reports that the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) was trying to pressure the government into calling early elections and planned on using mass resignations from the National Assembly – and possibly even dissolving the Punjab Assembly, where the party is in power.
The prime minister appeared to suggest that even under those circumstances, the government would refuse to bow to the opposition’s pressure and complete its term, a goal that has come to be seen by the top leadership of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party as essential to the survival of democracy in Pakistan. He warned unnamed ‘political forces’ to give up ‘1980s politics’.
“The people of Pakistan have suffered a lot at the hands of non-democratic forces,” added Gilani, an apparent reference to the several decades of military rule.
(Read: Tough talk from the prime minister)
Even while talking tough against the opposition, the prime minister appeared to be moving towards consolidating its political strength. Gilani met with MQM leaders in Karachi on Wednesday to assure them that the government would accommodate their concerns both in terms of policies and in terms of seats in the cabinet.
Sources told The Express Tribune that among the topics that came under discussion with the MQM included the portfolios given to the junior coalition partner in the Sindh cabinet, which the MQM feels do not currently include sufficiently important ministries.
In addition, the prime minister also assured the MQM that they would be satisfied with the local government system that the government would propose. Local government has been a hot-button issue with the MQM, which sees elected district governments as the key to its political future. Gilani also assured the MQM that they would be consulted before any bills were introduced in the Sindh Assembly.
(Read: Local bodies system: Pro-Mirza dissenters win PPP assurance)
“I am very thankful to the MQM leadership for rejoining the cabinet. Today they have extended their full support,” said the prime minister.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 20th, 2011.
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