Consensus on dissolving assemblies
While elections offer an opportunity to bring change democratically, they are also a yardstick with which a political party’s influence can be measured. For a stable and consistent experience of democracy, elections have to be held after a certain interval in a manner that does not raise fingers on those who can influence the outcome of this exercise. Parliamentary democracy thus needs consultation for the process to go ahead with the opposition and coalition parties. Pakistan, where the only time when relatively free and fair elections were held was 2008, is about to take on the exercise again.
But issues of mistrust between the government and opposition, and ironically but not too unexpected of, between the PPP-led federal government and its coalition partners, had turned into something that was impeding the formation of a caretaker setup. However, it appears that stumbling blocks are being removed one by one. PPP’s whip Khurshid Ahmed Shah has said that PML-N’s Ch Nisar Ali has agreed to dissolution of assemblies on 16 March, which is offers some relief. As President Asif Ali Zardari has stated that ‘I don’t want to become a Ghulam Ishaq Khan’ and that he will hand over the reins of power to the caretaker setup, the conspiracy theorists have been given a shut up call. With judiciary not entertaining Dr Tahirul Qadri’s plea which could have possibly delayed the elections, COAS Ashfaq Pervez Kayani stating that the army doesn’t want any stakes in the political process and would welcome the new democratic setup after the elections, and now the president’s statement, the trifecta of power in Pakistan seems to have come to a conclusion that democracy is the only solution for our political woes.
President’s stay at Lahore has another purpose as well, apart from holding meetings with the opposition party leaders and coalition partners. He is meeting with the people from all walks of life to gauge and assuage, if possible, tensions and find a way out of the rock bottom situation that the PPP finds itself in the Punjab. Considering the province’s clout, both economically and politically, whoever wins Punjab wins the federation, and that’s exactly what seems to be the agenda of the president. His statements that the government is determined to complete the IP gas pipeline with Iran, that a separate province for South Punjab was PPP’s idea, and that giving the chairmanship of the PPP to Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is a proof that his party was in consonance with the youth, are somewhat true but also appear to be for public’s consumption.
Whether the PPP gains anything from president’s machinations in the elections remains to be seen, but a consensus on when the incumbent legislatures would dissolve is a welcome decision.
