- PML-N cannot be forced to resign
After the collapse of the PPP in Punjab as a result of Zardari’s own policies the party chief is trying to clutch at any straw that he can lay hands on in the province. His present agenda is to seek immediate dismissal of the Punjab government and force the federal government to leave before the March Senate elections where the PML-N is poised to replace the PPP as the main voting bloc. The PTI and Tahirul Qadri also share Zadari’s agenda. Imran Khan is willing to support the PAT in case it takes to the streets. He is however unwilling to touch Zardari with a ten foot pole. This leaves the PPP chief the only option of joining hands with Qadri, which he has done. The present single item agenda might in days to come evolve into an election alliance between the two, without helping either.
The PML-N is unwilling to call early elections before it has got its majority in the Senate. It has already succeeded in putting an end to two sit-ins at Faizabad and Lahore, albeit at the cost of the common man’s suffering. Now it is facing a challenge from two former allies, the Pir of Sial Sharif and the guardian of Sultan Bahu’s shrine. The two have threatened to hold a sit-in at Faisalabad to seek the removal of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah.
Despite the noise and fury on the part of the opposition, no political party is prepared for the forthcoming elections. Even if the entire opposition was to join hands, it would not succeed in getting a no-confidence motion passed against the PM. The only way to force the government to go home is by getting large scale resignations from the NA along with the disbanding of the KP and Sindh assemblies by PTI and PPP governments respectively. This poses a risky proposition to the two opposition parties.
While the PPP-PAT agitation might put more pressure on an already nervous Punjab government, it will help none except the PTI in the forthcoming elections.