- Makes sense?
He did it at the beginning of the previous electoral cycle as well, just after ‘begrudgingly’ accepting the PML-N government. Former President Zardari agreed not to upset the new administration in the larger interest of democracy, country, etc, for the first four years. And he lived up to his word, even as PPP workers complained of gross and repeated unfairness on part of the government. And now he’s made the same offer to the PTI government, after also ‘begrudgingly’ accepting PTI’s government. Yet the olive branch is not being received so readily this time.
Even though Shafqat Mahmood welcomed the suggestion and even went as far as saying that the government would take two steps for every one taken by the opposition, expressions on faces of other senior PTI ministers in the House, especially Fawad Chaudhary, told a different story. So far, the government has shot back to any friendly gestures by arguing that the opposition fears PTI’s cut-throat accountability and is just finding ways to live and fight another day.
It doesn’t help, of course, that just the other day Zardari hinted at the no-confidence move that Fazlur Rahman followed so vigourously; but alas, from the Maulana’s point of view, to no avail. So the government will have reason to see this as just a face-saving about turn. Yet there is much weight in what the former president is suggesting. The country needs the government and opposition to sit down and hammer out long term plans to mend all that is broken in the country. There must be a consensus driven formula for dealing with the huge burden of debt as and setting the economy on the path of sustainable growth. And he’s also right about the water issue. There’s no denying that dams are a crying need of the hour. But conservation must take precedence; since we can embark on it immediately. So far PTI feels it can shoulder the burden all on its own and the last thing it needs is help from the opposition. Yet very quickly it will realise that these are amateurish positions and pay no dividends in the long run.