Dispute over dissolution boils down to politics
Provided a first opportunity to dissolve assemblies on their own accord, it was always likely that the dissolution of assemblies would become a node of political manoeuvring. With the National Assembly set to dissolve on March 15 – and caretaker government due on March 16 – there are two questions outstanding. What will be the shape of the caretaker government? Will the provincial governments dissolve at the same time? Time is fast running out for political parties to reach an amicable resolution with only three more days to find an agreement.
The centre of the war cry appears to be the Punjab, where the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) has trumped up the Sindh and Balochistan cards as conditions for dissolving the Punjab government on March 16. “The Punjab Assembly will not be dissolved on March 16 if the government continues to play tricks in Sindh and Balochistan,” is what Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, has declared. If no resolution is reached, the Punjab Assembly would complete its constitutional term ending next month – creating the strange situation where a caretaker government will be at the helm of affairs at the centre while an elected government will continue to run the province. Such a situation is likely to create fears over the transparency of the election campaigning process, where neutral political terrain is accepted as the fairest option of them all.
The PML-N has raised a genuine fear over the caretaker set up in Sindh – where the Muttahida Quami Movement’s (MQM) to sit in the opposition after having been part of government the bulk of the term has created fears of a “settlement” between the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the MQM over the southern province’s caretaker set up. Enter the wildcard, former Sindh chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim’s return to the country today after five years of self-exile, and the scenario in Sindh appears to smell of a possible deadlock.
More controversial may be the return of the Nawab Aslam Raisani government for two days, after being dismissed two months ago, to set up the caretaker set up in Balochistan before being dissolved again. Raisani’s arrival in Islamabad is being seen with skepticism, but the fact is that President Asif Ali Zardari’s proclamation of governor’s rule in the province is set to expire on March 14.
The game of political chess is being played in the three provinces of Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab. Dissolved governments are coming into power, government benches joining the opposition and ‘exiled’ former chief ministers entering the negotiating fray. The PML-N’s claim that the PTI has been consulted in Punjab is a positive step – since the party has emerged as a serious contender in the Punjab polls. It must be remembered that the sitting political parties have no experience of the task at hand – nonetheless they are all shrewd political animals. But it is important that the politicking comes to a close quickly – or else the transparency of the upcoming polls could be threatened.
