The sight
of political parties putting their heads together is always a
positive sign especially in Pakistan's bizarre political culture.
Furthermore, the getting together of parties at election time in
the form of an electoral alliance shows that political parties are
mature enough to accommodate each others differences in order to
secure a common goal.
Having said that, the goings on in the last couple of weeks in the
electoral alliance category have been little short of incredible.
Never before have there been so many apparent possibilities of
electoral alliances. There seem to be several possible alliances,
which each individual party may be part of. For instance the PPPP
is in talks with all main parties regarding seat adjustments or an
electoral alliance, such as the PML(N), PAT, MMA, JI. The same is
the case with PML(Q) with it in apparent talks with MMA, PAT,PML(N)
and others. PAT is in talks with PML(Q), PPPP, PML(N). MMA is in
such talks with PML(N) and PML(Q). Thus, a very confusing scenario
is before onlookers who are baffled by stories of a particular
party being part of three different possible alliances.
Never before in the history of pre-election scenarios in Pakistan
has there been such an atmosphere of confusion. Political parties
seem to be leaving their options open by engaging into dialogue
with parties from all sides of the political spectrum. The reason
for this seems to be the uncertainty created by the government
with regards to the elections. If the elections are to be in
October then the government is leaving it very late in finalising
all issues relating to electoral reforms, with the amendments
packages not yet being finalised and announced.
There are rumors amongst the main stream political parties that
the government has no intention of holding the elections in
October, which is why it has left every thing so late. Political
parties are also crying foul saying that they are not being given
adequate time to campaign. This may be a deliberate attempt at
keeping the political parties confused as to what will happen,
giving them no time to campaign. |
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About
Writer:
Mr. Jawed Iqbal, is an independent writer and a
political analyst. His articles appear in printed and
electronic media of Pakistan
eMail : JAWEDS_WORLD@HOTMAIL.COM |
Having come to terms with the
situation in hand, political parties seem to be preparing for the
worst. Exactly what is being mustered up behind the scenes, is
anyone's guess, but some incredible turnarounds are expected to
come to the fore front. Seat adjustments rather than full fledged
electoral alliances may be the order of the day enabling each
individual party to attain the most out of its support in its
strongholds. This explains why each party is engaging in dialogue
with every other.
Even though an electoral alliance will in actual fact be an
internal process of seat adjustments between member parties, only
the collective effort of main political parties can be successful.
The goal of the anti government parties, which includes most of
the main parties, is to stop Musharaf from hijacking the political
system by handing the government to his 'illegitimate child', the
PML(Q).
The anti government alliance, although not disclosed, a succession
of meetings between the PPPP and PAT has almost let the cat out of
the bag. With two long meetings on successive days between PAT
chairman Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri and PPPP chief Ameen Fahim, followed by
another between Qadri and the PPPP's Khawja Tariq Raheem (former
Governor Punjab) suggests both parties are finalising a possible
electoral alliance what ever shape that might take.
With PML(N) also reportedly joining hands with PPPP in the coming
elections, a mighty three party opposition alliance consisting of
the PPPP,PML(N) and PAT may finally materialise. There have been
news stories in many newspapers to this effect. The only problem
is that there have also been many other stories of the same
parties to be part of many other alliances. What ever lurks behind
closed doors better come out in the open soon as time may be
running
This
article published in;
Front page of the
Daily Patriot Lahore August 20, 2002
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What lurks behind closed
door