THE Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) demonstrated a change of heart on Sunday by announcing that the party would form governments in the Centre and provinces. Senior party leaders Omar Ayub Khan and Barrister Gohar Ali Khan while talking to media said they would form governments and ‘get recovered’ party founder Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Ch. Pervez Elahi. The party renewed its efforts to form governments at the Centre, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the help of a new partner, the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) while negotiations with the PTI Parliamentarians are stalled in KP after the PTI leadership demanded the removal of some leaders including Pervez Khattak and Mahmood Khan.
It is democratic right of all parties to lay claims to power and make attempts for the formation of governments and therefore, PTI, being the largest group in the National Assembly, significant presence in the Punjab Assembly and overwhelming strength in the KP Assembly is definitely entitled to try its luck but the ground situation and practical policies of the party are not conducive for the purpose. The Government formation at the Centre was possible only through mutual cooperation of any two of the three major parties – PML(N), PTI-backed independents and PPP but the PTI has ruled out alliance with both the PML(N) and PPP and therefore, it has no scope for the formation of its government in Islamabad. Similarly, in Punjab, PML(N) is commanding a clear majority and the position is so clear that PML-N’s Vice President Maryam Nawaz, who is party nominee for the office of the Chief Minister, has already been given CM’s protocol. The decision of the PTI to merge its independents in the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) is motivated by its desire to secure its share of reserved seats for women and minorities that are to be distributed among parliamentary parties (and not independents) on the basis of the seats won by them in the general elections. Before the SIC, the PTI had allied with the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen in Punjab and the Centre and an announcement to this effect was also made by the PTI spokesperson at a press conference last week. This decision seemingly irked the Jamaat-i-Islami, with which PTI had decided to enter a similar alliance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The JI had responded it was not interested in a ‘limited alliance’ with the PTI in KP. It seems PTI has not done its ground work well as it had to change its previous decision to form alliance with MWM when it transpired that the MWM has not submitted any list to the Election Commission for the reserved seats and therefore, there was no point for independents to join the party. As talks with the PTI Parliamentarians are also stalled, the party is contacting JUI Nazriyati and Tehreek-e-Inqilab in KP for the merger. As for other parties, it is now clear that in the Centre, a coalition government led by PML(N) and including PPP will be formed to steer the country ahead on the road to political and economic stability. The decision of the two major political parties to join hands despite differences of vision and conflicting interests augurs well for the democratic process as it is the responsibility of the political parties to help address the challenges facing the country. This is a wise option as no political party would pick up courage to bear the burden of hard decisions that the new government will have to take to reform different aspects of governance and economy. After initial warmth, JUI(F) has also revised its stance making it clear that it would not enter into an alliance with the PTI. This leaves the option open for joining the coalition at the Centre at a later stage. MQM-P has already held several rounds of talks with the PML(N) and it is quite obvious that the party would be part of the coalition government. In Balochistan, former Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti has claimed that the PML(N) has given go ahead to PPP for the formation of the Government and that the PML(N) would be a partner of PPP there. The emerging scenario indicates most of the known parties would be part of the government either at the Centre or in the provinces and this can turn out to be boon for the country provided all of them show flexibility in their policies and respect each other’s mandate.
