Forming a new coalition in practical terms, the disenchanted allies of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party have decided to sit on the opposition benches in legislatures in the Center and Sindh, it emerged on Tuesday. The bone of contention is the Sindh People’s Local Government Ordinance 2012 (SPLGO 2012), the disputed ordinance which the PPP allies in the Center and Sindh want immediately withdrawn. According to party sources, the leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, National People’s Party (NPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League Likeminded had decided that their elected representatives in the National and provincial assemblies would sit on the opposition side. The leaders of the PML-F and the NPP confirmed this to Pakistan Today when contacted.
PML-F’s Marvi Rashdi, the member of Sindh Assembly, said her party along with other likeminded political parties would play the role of opposition in the legislatures. Asked if her party was parting ways with the PPP in the legislatures too, “Yes it is true,” the MPA replied. She said, “We have decided not to agree on any cost and our demand is to withdraw the so-called ordinance which bifurcates Sindh. We want a united Sindh and one system”, of governance in whole of the province. Asked if her party along with others were deliberately splitting with the coalition for their fear that being coalition
partner with a, perceivably, unpopular PPP might attract the ire of voters in Sindh, Marvi replied, “There is no more sympathy for the PPP in Sindh.” She said her party was not afraid of any kind of political backlash as it would be the people to decide whom to vote for in the next general elections. She claimed that the PML Likeminded was also on board against the SPLGO 2012. “They are with us too,” she said. The NPP leaders also confirmed that they would be playing the role of opposition in the Sindh Assembly. Arif Mustafa Jatoi said the withdrawal of the controversial ordinance was the demand of his side. He said his side also wanted the People’s Party to submit a draft bill on the local government system in the Sindh Assembly for being passed in a democratic way.
The NPP leader, however, contradicted Marvi’s claim that the decision to sit on opposition benches would be applicable in the Center too. “If they (PPP) don’t agree, it would end up at the national (level) eventually,” Jatoi warned. Meanwhile, the Sindh chapter leadership of the PML-F, the PML-Q, the NPP and PML Likeminded formally announced their decision to sit on the opposition benches in the Sindh Assembly after holding a meeting on Tuesday at the residence of PML-F’s Jam Madad Ali.
After the meeting, Ali and PML-F General Secretary Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh told a joint press conference that the new ordinance had empowered the mayors (nazims) more than the chief minister and was promulgated in haste. Vowing to make the September 13 strike a success, they accused the rulers of conspiring to separate Karachi from Sindh, something they would never allow to happen. “The government by promulgating this ordinance has committed treason to Sindh,” said Ali.
Earlier, leaders from the four parties met at the residence of Sheikh to deliberate upon the content of the ordinance. The meeting was attended by leaders from the three parties including Masroor Jatoi, Arif Jatoi, Dr Rafique Bhamban, Nusrat Seher Abbasi, Shehryar Khan Meher, Faqueer Jam Mangrio, Ajmal Shah Moosvi, Khair Muhammad Jonejo, Eshwar Lal, Faraz Sheikh, Akbar Shah Rashdi and others. The controversy over SPLGO 2012 is fast deepening and turning into a political crisis, the result of which the stakeholders on the PPP’s side say would be “positive”.
