It’s in their interest, after all
“Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has been alleging ‘muk-muka’ between the PML(N) and the PPP. I can confirm it there has been a ‘muk-muka’ between both parties,” said Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on January, 28th.
Nisar, interior minister and a senior PML(N) leader, continued, “I confirm that PPP leader Syed Khurshid Shah as leader of the opposition had been getting benefits from the present government.”
His statement came after Khurshid Shah criticised Nisar for failing to implement NAP properly and being ‘late’ in condemning the terrorist attack on Bacha Khan University, which killed 21 people.
This is not the first outburst of Chaudhry Nisar against a PPP leader. At the height of PTI dharna in Islamabad, when democratic forces were joining hands to annul any extra-constitutional move, Nisar hurled allegations against leader of opposition in the Senate, Aitzaz Ahsan, accusing him of being “the representative and facilitator of biggest land mafia of the country”.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother, Shehbaz Sharif, had to apologise over Nisar’s remarks.
However, this time, Nisar has pointed towards a different aspect altogether. Although the information ministry has denied any form of collusion between the government and opposition parties, the differences between PML(N) itself seem to be pretty evident now.
Totally contrary to his statements, Nisar called Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah as they agreed to extend Ranger’s powers for three more months – this time without any conditions.
PPP has raised concerns in the past over the power of Rangers and blamed it for victimisation. Giving extension under such circumstances gives birth to a lot of questions.
In an interesting move last week, Uzair Baloch, a well-known gangster from Lyari, was produced to public view. Arrested in UAE in December 2014, there had been no news of him until now, which intrigues one’s mind to think if he was in the custody of agencies?
Nevertheless, his arrest and appearance in court is another blow to PPP as he is known to have links with PPP leaders.
Dr Asim Hussain, former federal minister and a close aide to Zardari, after spending around five and a half month in the custody of agencies, has been sent to judicial remand by the court.
Despite the Karachi operation, arrest of Asim Hussain and now Uzair Baloch, the understanding between both PML(N) and PPP seems to remain undeterred. With few statements now and then, PPP has not yet played the role of an effective opposition.
PTI leader Ejaz Chaudhary believes there is a secret nexus between both PPP and PML(N) which is to save each other from accountability.
“When Nisar slammed PPP and Khurshid Shah, I knew they would fire at each other for a few days and then sit back like good, obedient kids – which they did,” he said.
Even when given the chance to take part in anti-government protests by PTI and PAT to force mid-term elections, PPP refused to join an effort to weaken the democratic system.
Wajahat Masood, a columnist and political analyst, believes that although the noose tightens around PPP, its commitment to the Charter of Democracy, which was signed by both Shaheed BB and Nawaz Sharif, will remain intact.
“Both Nisar and Khurshid are second-in-command of their respective parties. While they take on each other, the relationship between top command remains the same,” he said.
Ali Arqam, a Karachi-based journalist, believes that PPP is expecting the impossible from PML(N).
“PML(N) has abandoned some of the matters for the military to take care of and the Karachi operation is one of them. People’s Party expects PML(N) to be lenient on them in Karachi, which is not an option for the latter,” he said.
“The actual issues of PPP are with the army, not PML(N), but they know criticising the military is not advisable in the current situation so they focus their criticism on PML(N) instead.”
Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif announced last month that the operation in Karachi will continue till the elimination of all criminal elements.
Now that Uzair Baloch has been produced before the media and will be tried publicly, it is expected of PPP to end its ‘understanding’ with PML(N) as Baloch could become an approver against PPP – like the case with Saulat Mirza.
The same fact was pointed out by Najam Sethi in his The Friday Times’ editorial last week.
“If they have now decided to try Uzair Baloch in full public view, it can only mean that they will go after those in the PPP who cultivated and nourished him and benefited from his criminality. But this is bound to infuriate the PPP Sindh government and leadership even more than the arrest and interrogation of Dr Asim Hussain,” Sethi wrote.
The growing ‘differences’ between PPP and PML(N) also came out in open when the former decided to oppose the privatisation of PIA.
Although PPP’s founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto introduced the policy of nationalisation, the party has left it long ago with Fauzia Wahab even once calling it a ‘political blunder’.
“It is just political point scoring by PPP and not a stance based on principles,” said Arqam.
On the other hand, the Sindh government, under PPP, has miserably failed to deliver. Over 160 children, many of them infants, have died since the start of this year alone in Thar. Without actually addressing the problem, PPP legislators defended their position, asserting that reports in media were ‘exaggerated’.
Such astounding failure of Sindh government may be the result of trying to govern remotely from Dubai.
With dying public support, tightening noose from LEAs and failure to govern Sindh, it is expected of PPP to get frustrated.
However, Wajahat Masood believes that those in the establishment, who want to derail democracy, will keep trying to push PPP to the point of no return.
“It is better for both parties to not give up on the Charter of Democracy and keep supporting each other when democratic system comes under attack,” he concluded.
