With the coalition government clearly inclined to stick with the existing foreign and security policies, the mistrust and lack of coordination between the opposition parties is alarmingly disturbing, as they have failed to join hands to push the decision makers to galvanise all political forces for building a national consensus.
The democratically-elected government has so far failed to implement the unanimous resolutions passed by the joint sittings of parliament in October 2008 and on May 14, 2011, which opposition parties, particularly the PML-N claims is tantamount to reducing parliament to a rubber stamp.
However, the Sharifs have also not come up with any clear strategy on how to force the government to introduce changes in the country’s foreign and security policies. Be it the well-attended sit-ins of PTI chief Imran Khan in Peshawar and Karachi, or fiery statements by Opposition Leader Nisar Ali Khan and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, opposition leaders have so far failed to push the government to even form an independent investigation commission to probe into the US’ Abbottabad operation.
Background discussions and interviews with prominent leaders of opposition parties, including those of the PML-N, revealed that the mistrust between various opposition parties, including the PML-N, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, PML-Q Likeminded and the JUI-F was the reason providing space to the ruling coalition for neglecting individual protests of opponents. JI senior leader Liaqat Baloch said his party was ready to go with other opposition parties if they agreed on a one-point “anti-America agenda”. He said the JI was sceptic about the PML-N, as the Sharifs’ policy on national issues was “very vague”.
“The PML-N is not ready to play its role of a real opposition and it backtracks from its announcements. The PML-N is short in action and long on rhetoric,” he said. Baloch said the JI was holding protest demonstrations against government’s pro-US policies, “but we do not want to give space to opportunists for wrapping up democratic order through any unconstitutional act”.
PML-Q Likeminded Secretary General Humayon Akhtar Khan stressed on the need for coherence between opposition parties for taking a common position on national security. “PPP’s coalition partners are either silent or supporting the PPP government, but opposition stand divided as well. The opposition parties are not even in negotiations, let alone coming together on a common platform,” he said, adding that the country’s existing security and foreign policies needed reviewing. Akhtar said the country’s Afghan policy had proven a failure and made way for terror attacks and feeble economy.
He said the Muttahida Muslim League’s component parties would meet on Tuesday in Lahore to evolve a strategy for bringing all opposition parties on a common platform. PML-Zia President Ijazul Haq said constituent parties of the MML, including the PML-F, PML-Zia, Awami Muslim League and PML-Q Likeminded would be meeting on Tuesday to devise a future course of action.
“We will form three teams that will meet the leadership of JI, PTI, JUI-F, Sindh Awami Alliance, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, and the PML-N. It will be good if the PML-N joins us, otherwise we will form a grand opposition alliance without the Sharifs,” he said.
However, PML-N central leader Ahsan Iqbal said his party was ready to work with any party which agreed with the PML-N’s national agenda of reforms. “We have a national agenda and agenda of reforms….Any party which shares our vision can come along us,” he said, adding that the PML-N did not believe in opportunistic alliances, as such moves did not prove fruitful in the past. He said the PML-N would contact all parliamentary parties (both treasury and opposition benches) if the supremacy of parliament was subverted by the government by not implementing the unanimous resolution passed by the joint sitting of parliament. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf spokesman Umar Sarfaraz Cheema said almost all opposition parties that had no representation in parliament were united, “but the opposition parties sitting in parliament are playing dirty games to safeguard their vested interests”. “The participation of a number of political and religious parties in PTI’s sit-ins in Peshawar and Karachi reflects that all parties outside parliament are united,” he said, adding that the real face of major parliamentary opposition party – the PML-N – had been revealed by WikiLeaks. JUI-F central leader Maulana Amjad said it was the responsibility of the PML-N to gather all opposition parties on a single platform. “Maulana Fazlur Rehman had gathered the leadership of opposition parties at his residence, but the PML-N failed to play its due role later,” he said.
