Status quo versus change
The race to enlist the disgruntled electables has gone on between the PPP, PML-N and PTI for quite some time. A number of potential turncoats are always on the lookout for parties with better electoral prospects. They have standard excuses to explain their desertion like maltreatment by the leadership, failure on its part to fulfil the promise made to the people, or deviation from the original party line. As Imran Khan’s ranking skyrocketed after the Lahore public meeting in October 2011, many were attracted to the PTI. Some realised later that they had made a miscalculation and decided to join some other party which they thought was more likely to come to power. Meanwhile, the PPP rolled out the red carpet for the PML-N and PML-Q deserters and the PML-N opened its doors to malcontents from other parties. With the elections in sight the process has hastened.
The announcement by Lashkari Raisani and other PPP leaders from Balochistan to join the PML-N is a part of the ongoing exercise. It is hard to take Raisani seriously when he justifies joining the rival camp on the ground that the PPP had deviated from Benazir Bhutto’s ideology. This would imply that Nawaz is holding high the flag of PPP ideology, a proposition that even the PML-N leader may not readily agree with. Some are likely to interpret the act as an attempt to secure a family seat while taking a revenge on the PPP for disgracing Lashkari’s elder brother.
Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani has brought five Balochistan Assembly members and several provincial party leaders along with him in the PML-N fold. This could strengthen the position of the PML-N in the province where it failed to secure even a single seat in 2008. The traditional elite always join a new party along with their respective groups and leave it with their supporters whenever they feel they are not being treated as they deserve. The alliances are generally as unprincipled as subsequent breakups. The Balochistan Assembly which is dominated by sardars has seen several kleidoscopic combinations of the same politicians taking shape over the decades. There is a tendency among the major parties to rely on sardars who continue to change loyalties for the sake of power and privileges. The tribal chiefs have joined hands alternately with the PPP, PML-N, and military rulers that included Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf. While the sardars prospered, Balochistan continued to suffer. Many think the rising middle class in the province holds the key to bringing the insurgency under control and putting Balochistan on way to peace and progress. The mainstream parties would do well to negotiate with those representing progressive Balochistan than rely on the forces of the status quo.
