Confrontation where compromise was needed
During the 1990’s, the PPP and PML-N fought no-holds-barred struggles that helped the offstage players to wrap up the system. While abiding by the rules of the game set by the Parliament this time, the two sides continue the fight in violation of the spirit of these rules. This is already creating bad blood among the various parties. Driven by mutual suspicions they are acting in a way that would bring in outside forces as arbiters. What is needed badly is accommodation. What one sees happening is the opposite.
The failure to reach an accord on the caretaker prime minister is a reflection on the ability of the PPP and PML-N to reconcile political differences. This could have been resolved through give and take which is an essential part of the democratic culture. What both have shown is inflexibility which characterises the dictatorial mindset. The doubts expressed by Ch Nisar about the parliamentary committee’s ability to evolve a consensus show a lack of trust in politicians. His view that the matter would eventually be decided by the ECP reveals the unfortunate tendency of taking political disputes to non-political arbitrators. Many believe that there was enough ground for agreement on a neutral and capable caretaker prime minister. Even the PTI and JUI-F had accepted Justice (retd) Shakirullah Jan. Similarly, many in the PML-N favoured Dr Ishrat Hussain. One fails to understand why Ch Nisar suddenly withdrew the name of the former and sent instead two names to the committee that the PPP has declared to be partial. This has elicited strong protests from the JUI-F. The insistence by Ch Nisar not to include representatives of major opposition parties in the list of oppositions’ nominees for the parliamentary committee presently holding talks on the issue is again indicative of the absence of the spirit of compromise.
The failure to end the deadlock would strengthen forces opposed to democracy which must not be underrated. The TTP has again declared the elections to be un-Islamic and called off its offer of talks. Musharraf is meanwhile coming back with an agenda to malign the politicians. Tahirul Qadri is once again back to his gimmicks. He has accused the politicians of indulging in pre-election rigging by seeking nominations on the caretaker setup through hefty bribes. Qadri is simultaneously accusing the ECP of allowing tax and loan defaulters and corrupt politicians to contest. He is thus calling into question the very legitimacy of the forthcoming elections. The idea is to spread despondency among the voters. By continuing with their feuds the PPP and PML-N are only helping Qadri in his mission. The failure to end the deadlock by the parliamentary committee would send a negative message to the voters and could bring down the voter turnout. In case of its being very low, the next government would act with lesser confidence.
