PPP's 'reluctance'

Reports of reservations on the Pakistan People's Party's (PPP's) part to go all out in support of the combined opposition's protests and internal deliberations point to problems in the opposition alliance. The noticeable absence of Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Co-chairperson Asif Zardari from the protests mounted by the opposition so far and, perhaps more significantly, from the internal deliberations of the alliance may point to two factors impeding the PPP's all out support to the stance of the opposition. One, it is no secret that the PPP was annoyed by Nawaz Sharif's abandoning the Charter of Democracy he signed with the late Benazir Bhutto in exile in London in 2006 after the PPP-PML-N coalition government formed after the 2008 elections broke up. Subsequently, Nawaz Sharif played an active role in embarrassing the PPP government politically and in the courts. The PPP, despite its restraint and repeated advice to Nawaz Sharif during his tenure as prime minister from 2013 to 2017 to strengthen parliament and bring all issues, including the Panama Papers leaks, to the house for resolution, finally seemed to have lost patience with Nawaz Sharif. It even muttered under its breath that Nawaz Sharif had suffered ignominy deservedly because of his own blunders while ignoring the PPP's well intentioned advice. Two, despite the statements by most parties in the opposition alliance that the 2018 elections were flawed if not rigged, the PPP knows that the main benefit of any all out support to the opposition alliance will flow to the beleaguered PML-N and the Sharif family. Given its sense of betrayal by the PML-N since 2008, the PPP seems reluctant to go the whole hog in supporting the opposition's protests. In any case, the PPP, despite its criticisms of the 2018 polls, has settled for relatively mild, sans the top leadership, protests without abandoning the platform of parliament. However, now another report from PML-N sources says the PPP has rejected nominating a 'hawk' such as Hamza Shahbaz Sharif as the opposition's joint candidate for the post of Punjab chief minister, preferring someone milder and acceptable to all opposition parties such as Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Mohammad Iqbal. PPP sources however say it was only a 'suggestion' in good faith.
But all this may not be the entire picture. Another report holds the PPP is under pressure from 'hidden forces' to cooperate with Imran Khan taking the office of prime minister and with the PTI to ensure smooth running of its government over its five-year tenure. Dissident voices within the PPP ranks such as PPP Parliamentarians Secretary General Farhatullah Babar point to the trickiness of the PPP having criticised the 2018 polls as rigged and now being pushed to join hands with the PTI. Indeed, despite its relatively sober, mature response to the elections controversy, the PPP finds itself in the potentially embarrassing position of attempting to reconcile its critical stance with the pressure from the establishment to cooperate with the incoming PTI government. Of course, there could be another factor at play in this scenario. Asif Zardari had pitched his party before the 2018 elections as poised to become a power broker in parliament, without whose support it would not be possible for any party to form a government. There were rumours abounding that Zardari had been hobnobbing with the establishment and may have had an important role to play in the shenanigans that began with the ousting of the PML-N-led Balochistan government, the election of a relatively unknown politician from Balochistan as Senate Chairman, and the marginalisation of Nawaz Sharif. Whether any of this holds water or not, another view in the light of the above background is that the PPP is running with the hare and hunting with the hounds simultaneously, i.e., supporting the combined opposition to strengthen its bargaining position with the PTI. Speculative as these scenarios are, the truth will perhaps not be long in coming out as Imran Khan prepares to take the oath of prime minister on August 18 and the PTI constitutes its government soon thereafter.