Opposition discord: Fahim doesn’t foresee mid-term elections

Senior PPP leader says govt should have accepted PTI demand.

LAHORE:

Makhdoom Amin Fahim, senior leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has quashed the impression that differences within the opposition might lead to mid-term elections in the country. The PPP is the biggest opposition group in the National Assembly, followed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Fahim’s statement came five days after PTI chairman Imran Khan demanded a full audit of the votes cast in the 2013 parliamentary elections. He told a news conference on July 15 that ‘mid-term election wouldn’t derail democracy’.

“Opposition parties are agitating on different issues. And I don’t think this would force the government to hold mid-term elections,” Fahim told journalists in Lahore on Sunday.

“Had the government acquiesced to the PTI’s demand for verification of votes in four National Assembly constituencies, the political situation would have been different today,” he said. “The government’s reluctance shows there is something wrong.”

The PPP leader came down hard on the government for its ‘poor performance’ over the 14 months that it has been in power. He added that the government couldn’t address key issues, particularly economic and power crises.

The federal ministers, instead of doing their assigned jobs honestly, are looking heavenwards, Fahim said. While the power crisis spiralled out of the government’s control Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif advised the people to pray for rain. “God granted Khawaja Asif’s prayer and the next day it rained in Islamabad,” he added.

The PPP leader said the people have voted the PML-N to power for a five-year term – it’s now up to the government to deliver on the promises it made to the people during the election campaign.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2014.