The
formation of the National Alliance (NA) gave a sense of
progression to democratic norms as the coming together of parties
who supported Musharaf's reforms and policies was seen as a
positive step. Moreover this alliance is said to be formed by the
government in order to bring together all parties with similar
aims. To the surprise of the government the NA is showing itself
to be a non starter owing to the government's own interference in
the formation of the alliance. The leadership structure thrust
upon the member parties of the alliance has caused dismay amongst
the NA and outside resulting in an apparent rift between the
Millat Party and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT). The simmering
discontent held by PAT has slowly come to the surface and into the
public domain. The extent to which Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri chairman PAT
was dissatisfied with the NA has only come to light this week with
reports of him threatening to leave the NA and join the
opposition. The fact that he was absent from recent NA meetings
and the president's APC puts flesh onto these boney reports.
Well according to reports Musharaf sent a General to convince Dr
Tahir-ul-Qadri to attend the APC but Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri insisted
that his party will no longer be used and abused. Saying his party
alone made Musharaf's Referendum campaign a spectacular success
but in return the government has tried to sideline PAT in the NA.
It is clear that PAT leaders feel bitterly betrayed rather stabbed
in the back, which can be understood. Thus reports of Dr
Tahir-ul-Qadri meeting Banazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and Altaf
Hussain during his current trip abroad will be sending shockwaves
through the government as it has now fully realised the extent of
PAT's support in the masses and will not want that to be used
against it. Appointing controversial figures as the key players in
the alliance was sure to lead to trouble. The government should
not manipulate pro-government parties but only give full support
to them. Presently the structure of NA is totally unnatural as
regional parties are the main players with PAT being sidelined.
This only confirms reports that the government has realised that
it cannot manipulate PAT on its principled stance. Baring in mind
that PAT fully supports all points of Musharaf's seven point
agenda should be an incentive for Musharaf to bring PAT forward.
The fact that PAT is being sidelined spells severe doubts about
the government's sincerity and seriousness on implementing its
seven point agenda and true democracy.
Manipulating the formation of the NA has raised concerns on how
far the government is willing to go in order to have its desired
individuals in the post-election setup. This has also confirmed
skeptics of their fears of another rigged election. The government
is grossly increasing the gap between its words and actions. Talk
of implementing democracy may be impressive but the appeasing of
parties whose leadership were the main players in the Nawaz and
Banazir governments is not hidden from anyone. On the one hand
Musharaf is unrepentant of his criticism of the corrupt regimes of
the past yet he is willing to accept members of those regimes in
the post election setup. The PML (QA) and some of the main players
in the NA are known to be amongst those, yet the government is
adamant to give full support to these individuals and parties. |
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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
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The NA and the PML(QA) are two main entities the government is
preparing for office but neither of them is able to rid it self of
internal problems. The PML(QA) in its failure to unite all
factions of the PML together with fears of itself being split up
due to disagreements on a proposed leadership is hardly a party
worth banking on. The NA at the moment lacks any punch due to many
reasons. Even though Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi is supposed to be the
NA's president, Farooq laghari and his party seem to be running
the show. It was hoped that this alliance will later become the
"Grand National Alliance" by the inclusion of many other
parties. As yet it is unlikely that any major party will join it
as its leadership may not be admired by many. Many believe that
the NA would be more successful and more of a thing if Dr
Tahir-ul-Qadri was its president, as the PAI was a thriving
success during his presidency. Furthermore the current dismal
state of the NA needs an urgent reshuffle to get things moving in
the right direction. As the last thing it needs is PAT leaving the
alliance. This would also be detrimental for Musharaf's drive to
unite all like minded parties. If the threats of PAT joining the
opposition are serious, then Musharaf would face an enormous task
of curtailing an opposition being lead by Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri, as
Nawaz Sharif found out with PAI. More recently Dr Qadri has gone
further by saying that he will withdraw his principled support
given to the government if the government will continue its desire
to bring to power those who are similar to the past corrupt
rulers. This is as far as anyone can go without withdrawing
support, so Musharaf should take heed before its too late.
Well it is obvious that the PML(QA) has been botched up by the
government as a party which would serve as a puppet government for
Musharaf and the ISI.To the disappointment of the government the
PML(QA) is failing to bring forward a capable leader let alone
unite all factions of the PML. The unification of the PML is
desirable for the government as that decreases the number of
parties opposing it. Such unification would also be disliked by
the other parties but it seems that the PML factions do not
understand the benefits they will gain by uniting. The main reason
being, the main players in these factions are only interested in
themselves occupying the leadership positions not sparing a
thought for the benefit it may serve their party if they were to
unite.
It seems the government should let democracy run its course as its
efforts to manipulate it are proving to be a miserable failure
with regards to both the NA and the PML(QA). The government should
limit itself to promoting the principles of democracy, making
clear to the people what they should look for when they vote for a
party. The only reason why the people may still support corrupt
parties is due to ignorance and lack of correct information about
the parties. True democracy seems to be looking as far away as it
was during Nawaz Sharif's government, which poses the question of
what happened to Musharaf's drive to introduce true democracy.
This article
published in;
Daily Statesman, published with the heading National
Alliance:A headless Chicken (2002-06-07) |
National Alliance: A Non Starter