Agreeing to agree
The PPP and the PML(N) have reportedly reached an agreement on the 20th Amendment and on measures to ensure fair and free elections for which they should be congratulated. The agreement has, however, yet to be announced officially. The two sides had already agreed on three of the four preconditions put up by the PML(N): appointment of an independent chief election commissioner, empowering political parties to fill the reserved seats for women and transfer of the EOBI, Worker’s Welfare Fund and Sheikh Zayed Hospital from the centre to the provinces. The PPP has now also reached an agreement with the PML(N) on the intractable issue of installing a caretaker government with consensus, thus removing the last hurdle. The PPP claimed it could have passed the 20th Amendment as it possessed the required two third majority and was seeking the PML(N) support only to maintain the government’s record of passing the constitutional amendments unanimously. Others disputed the claim. Whatever the reason, the government failed for the sixth time on Thursday to present the constitutional amendment bill before the National Assembly.
Hiccups apparently still remain. In view of the PPP leadership’s somewhat unsatisfactory record vis-à-vis keeping the promises, the PML(N) is not willing to support the bill till the agreements are made a part of the final draft of the 20th Amendment. The government has to take its allies into confidence before taking the agreement to the cabinet for approval. That a two member committee, one each from the PPP and PML(N), has been appointed to propose a consensus draft also indicates that not everything is resolved yet. This explains why an official announcement has still not been made.
The PML(N) has been accused of using pressure tactics to get its demands accepted. But have not the MQM and PML(Q) done this in the past? This is how things move in democracies. When it suits one, one calls it ‘showing flexibility in dealing with political forces’, or ‘taking every body along’ or remaining ‘flexible’. In politics, what matters is the social impact of the decisions taken by the leaders rather than their intentions or short term tactics.