EDITORIAL: The PPP and the PML-N have been in a partnership, generally viewed as a coalition of convenience, for over two years now. Joining hands under the banner of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to oust the PTI government in a vote of no-confidence in April 2022, they formed a coalition government.
And following the general elections earlier this year, the PPP has been in a halfway alliance with the PML-N government at the Centre, occupying constitutional offices from the president down to provincial governors in return for lending the latter support from the outside.
But after eight months of alliance, it seems all is not well between the two parties. Speaking to reporters on Thursday last, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari hinted at a possible review of the collaboration, saying he would present the “facts and ground realities” at a meeting of his party’s Central Executive Committee to decide future strategy. So, what bothers the PPP at this point in time?
Referring to the 26th Amendment, which has rendered the superior judiciary almost subservient to the Executive, he expressed frustration over the “disrespect” felt by his party for being ignored during the crucial consultations process. It was given a copy of the draft legislation, he said, on the floor of the Assembly to read and vote in its favour.
True that no one, including the Law Minister, seemed to know what exactly the draft contained, but it is also true that the PPP was still prepared to vote for it. That first attempt failed only because of lack of sufficient votes. Thanks to Bilawal’s tireless efforts to bring the JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman on board, the highly controversial amendment was finally passed after excluding some of the draft legislation’s provisions indigestible to anyone interested in protecting the people’s fundamental rights the Constitution guarantees.
The credit for the passage of that widely unwelcomed legislation, in large measure, is for the PPP Chairman to claim. He has now accused the government of reneging on its commitments, explaining that one of the terms of 2006 Charter of Democracy signed by PPP and PML-N leaders, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, both parties were to have equal representation in the Judicial Commission, but the government defied that agreed term, “and I withdrew my name [from the Commission] in protest”.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s list of grievances against the government includes lack of consultation for Public Sector Development Projects, in particular plans to construct Cholistan and Marot canals. He also took issue with the government’s security policies vis-a-vis fighting terrorism as well as Internet security.
Responding to questions about social media ‘fire wall’ and now restrictions on VPN usage, he rightly averred those who make such decisions don’t know about the importance of Internet technology, and its benefits on the economic front. “Frankly speaking, they don’t even care,” he said, leaving it to public imagination as to who ‘they’ might be.
Such tactics only breed public contempt for politicians, seen to be acting in self-interest rather than the greater good of all. They don’t make any political sense, either. The PPP leader’s scathing criticism of its ally seems to have one of two aims: to gain a better share in power or prepare for something new in the offing that he is aware of.
In any case, the choice before his party, once a force to be reckoned with, is between frittering away whatever is left of its political capital by continuing to support ‘from the outside’ unpopular policies of the present setup and revisiting its alliance with it.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024