What will PPP’s next move
The PPP co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari has decided to return to Pakistan. Bilawal Bhutto hopes that Zardari’s arrival would facilitate the acceptance of the PPP’s four demands so that the party is not required to hold the long march to Islamabad. Nawaz Sharif however is adamant on never reconciling with the Senate’s Panama-gate Bill, one of the demands put up by the PPP. He is also inclined to call the ‘PPP’s bluff’, a term used by the PML-N hotspurs to describe the long march. The PPP’s opponents maintain that what the party really wants is the withdrawal of certain cases and if this is done by the government the party would happily cancel the march and would be reconciled to the acceptance of one or two of the less significant points in it charter of demands As things stand Zardari might find it is as hard to convince some of the PPP hardliners as persuading Nawaz Sharif. While a signal from Benazir Bhutto could make PPP stalwarts agree to anything, Zardari would be required to persuade them on any controversial issue.
With the election campaign about to begin the PPP badly needs to strike roots in Punjab. While weighing its options. It will have to decide if reaching an agreement with the PML-N would help it more or it would be better to broker an understanding with other opposition parties including the PTI over some sort of seat adjustment during the forthcoming polls. Taking a decision would not be easy. The PPP, particularly its Punjab chapter, is deeply divided on giving any concessions to the PML-N. Others consider PTI unreliable and capable of taking an abrupt U-turn. The PTI is also unwilling to talk to Zardari, whom it considers a corrupt politician. Despite the gulf of antipathies that divides them the PPP and the PTI are jointly confronting the PML-N in the Parliament on Panama Papers and demanding Ch Nisar’s resignation. It remains to be seen how Zardari puts the pieces of the political jigsaw together.