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PPP cobbling together allies

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party has thrown itself into the task of cobbling together its allies as it prepares to stake claim to form government, but is worried that the one partner that it is keenest to have on board is reluctant to join the coalition-in-the-making and thus affect its stability.

The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) has assured the PPP-led government its fullest support, with leader Nawaz Sharif promising last week that his party would ensure that the PPP completed its full five-year term. But all this, only from the outside.

Despite an apparent agreement on the trickiest issue between the two parties — the restoration of the judiciary — the PML (N) has said it does not want a share of the power

Within the PPP, the PML(N)’s stand, despite all the talk about “collective responsibility”, is a matter of concern. At the luncheon meeting where the two parties and their ally, the Awami National Party, got together for a show of strength, several PPP members-elect of the National Assembly said “it would have sent out a better signal” had Mr. Sharif consented to join the government.

“The very purpose of national consensus is that everyone should be on board. The responsibility has to be shared by all the parties. That was the understanding when [PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari] and Mr. Sharif met for the first time,” said one PPP insider.

According to the political grapevine, Mr. Zardari even offered the PML (N) leader the prime ministership, but Mr. Sharif declined on the ground that the office belonged to the PPP, as it had the largest share of the votes. He is also said to have offered the office to ANP chief Asfandyar Wali, but the Pakhtun leader also turned it down for the same reason.

Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, a senior leader of the PML (N), said earlier this week the reason why his party wanted to extend support only from the outside was because Ministers have to be sworn in by the President.

The party does not recognise retired General Pervez Musharraf as a legal incumbent of that office, and therefore, this would create complications.

But among PPP members and analysts, Mr. Sharif’s reluctance is seen as an indication that the PML (N) has its sights set on the next election already, and for this reason, does not want anything of the burden of incumbency to rub off on it.

Predictions are that the PPP and PML(N) honeymoon will last only so long as they achieve their only common goal – that of restoring the supremacy of Parliament by removing a clause in the Constitution empowering the President to dissolve the National Assembly. Despite the appearances of agreement on the restoration of the judiciary and the ouster of General Musharraf, the PPP is not as strident about these as Mr. Sharif is.

The PPP is also concerned that the PML (N) appears to be making efforts to form the government in the Punjab province, where it is the single largest party, without the PPP’s assistance, though the party has a fair share of the seats in the provincial assembly.

The PML(N) has been busy wooing the large number of independent winners in the province to join it in the hope of boosting its numbers in the Punjab Assembly to a simple majority, though PPP is keen to make “national governments” both in the centre and in the provinces.

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