The PPP-PML-Q alliance has attracted sharp divergent views from within the ranks of both the parties as some PPP stalwarts on Saturday cautioned their leadership against the alliance with the party’s erstwhile rival party as this unnatural deal could prove to be a threat to the survival of the party in the longer run.
Background interaction by Pakistan Today with the PPP stalwarts revealed their strong reservations against the alliance which they said might harm the very voters of the party. Most of such leaders did not agree to talk on record but some were valiant enough to share their reservations. In an exclusive chat, former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi advised both the PPP and the PML-Q not to adopt an “indecent haste” in forging the alliance as their voters at the grassroots level were still divided and shocked on this development.
“Look, there was only one name from the PML-Q, which was mentioned in the e-mail sent to Mark Siegel by the PPP’s slain leader Benazir Bhutto in case she was assassinated. The same person, Pervaiz Elahi, is now being made deputy prime minister under the deal. I am not pointing at him as he might be innocent in this case. But let the probe into the Benazir’s assassination be finalised and let him prove himself innocent. Afterwards, he could be made deputy prime minister,” Qureshi told Pakistan Today. He said the government should take care of the sentiments of the party workers who were still in a shock over the assassination of their leader and any haste in striking a deal with the PML-Q would further divide the party workers.
Another confidant of the late Benazir Bhutto, Safdar Abbasi said the acrimony between the Bhuttos and the Chaudhrys had a long history. Abbasi said it was a historic truth that Benazir had gotten an FIR registered after the Karsaz blast wherein she had mentioned Pervaiz Elahi’s name as an accused. “Now, the same person is being appointed deputy prime minister under the PPP’s rule which is a huge question mark for the PPP leadership. The alliance will have a negative and demoralising impact on the PPP workers who have rendered sacrifices for the cause of the party and the Bhutto family,” he said.
Questioning the party’s decision-making process, Abbasi said the decisions were being taken with a non-serious approach but it would have a damaging effect at the party’s workers. “I think the party has failed to appreciate the fact that it has lost its leader – Benazir Bhutto and this has created a huge vacuum which has not been plugged. Benazir’s loss has jolted the very foundations of the party and now a decision is taken without proper consultation and then it is reversed. Bulldozing of decisions has damaged the party due to which the party has lost its purpose,” he added.
Referring to various alliances made with different political parties by the PPP in the recent past, Abbasi said initially, an alliance was formed with the PML-N but it could not remain intact and within six months both the parties separated. Likewise, he added, alliances with the JUI-F and the MQM also fizzled out. “With such a history, now the PPP government is entering into an alliance with a party for which there are lots of questions in the minds of the party workers. How long this alliance could go is a question easy to be assessed,” he added.
