ARD demand

The ARD parties have used the recent Supreme Court decision regarding Pakistan Steel Mills privatisation to throw a challenge to the government. An alliance meeting held in London on Sunday passed a resolution demanding the resignation of President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz by the end of the current month. If the demand is not met, says the resolution, "a vote of no-confidence shall be moved against the Musharraf regime."
Earlier, in his inaugural speech PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif had proposed a no-trust move against the Prime Minister and the impeachment of the President. PPP-P Chairperson Benazir Bhutto told the media that a committee is being constituted to decide which of the two options is to be adopted. As it is, either option requires a two-thirds majority in Parliament while all the alliance parties put together cannot muster even a simple majority.
Hence their demand and the accompanying threat of moving a vote of no-confidence against the "Musharraf regime" look quite absurd. But then, the ARD leadership is well aware of what it can or cannot do.
There are two possible explanations for the ARD to adopt the stance it has. One is an attempt at image reversal vis-à-vis charges of corruption against some of its top leaders. Which is obvious from Benazir's assertion that the ARD's move would expose the corruption of the present government, and that if there is rule of law in Pakistan, those behind the privatisation process should be arrested.
The other, and more pressing, reason may be to build pressure on the government to change its policy of continuing to sideline the mainstream parties' leadership as preparations get underway for the national election due next year.
The demand the resolution contains is meant to be an opening statement on the part of the Opposition parties, as Nawaz Sharif suggested, to take their struggle to its logical conclusion. In other word, the ARD parties are to launch street agitation for the realisation of their goal, which is to reclaim power, are at least their legitimate space in the political arena.
The other Opposition alliance, the MMA, is currently sitting on the sidelines, and if the Punjab Chief Minister, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, is to be believed, it would support the ruling party at the time of the next elections. Nonetheless, the MMA is said to be divided over the question of joining hands with the ARD, although it has indicated its willingness to support the ARD over the single point of ousting the present government.
One of its main components, the Jamaat-i-Islami, is strongly inclined towards that position. In fact, the party's chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, who also heads the MMA, made a hard-hitting speech against the government at a protest demonstration in Islamabad on Sunday, reiterating that President General Musharraf should step down, handing over power to an interim national consensus government to hold fresh elections.
It is quite possible that the two alliances would join forces on the single point agenda of demanding fresh elections under a neutral set-up. Even if things do not come to such a pass, the developing scenario can easily generate political uncertainty, which might have serious repercussions for the economy. It is important, therefore, for the government to resolve the situation in an amicable manner.
It must play by the rules so that the Opposition parties and their leaders can participate in the political process without any let or hindrance. It must create an even playing field for all, including the heads of the two major mainstream parties, the PPP and the PML-N, leaving it to the state institutions to take care of the two leaders' acts of omission or commission. Individuals come and go, what needs to be strengthened is the democratic process in accordance with established norms and traditions.