KARACHI, Nov 20: The manipulation of people’s mandate by keeping the floor-crossing article of the Constitution suspended with an aim to ensure the requisite number for the pro- regime political parties, has left out Sindh from power-sharing at the Centre.
No one from Sindh has been elected to the key posts in the National Assembly. The PPP’s almost 11th hour move to field Shah Mahmood Qureshi as its candidate for the PM slot, instead of Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the chief of the PPP Parliamentarians and the parliamentary leader of the party, has taken away even a remote chance of someone from Sindh reaching to the top slot. The change of candidate means acceptance of the forgone conclusion and, perhaps, differences among the leadership itself.
It seems that the PPP leadership’s political expediency, in its effort to avoid alienating the United States, has landed the party and the people in such a quandary.
The emergence of the so-called forward bloc, owing to differences on claim to leadership and indebtedness to the regime, has also added to the problems.
Though the elections for Senate have not yet been held, it has been a tradition in the parliamentary history of Pakistan that provinces are adequately represented on key positions of the democratic institution.
Alienation of a vast majority of Sindh’s population would become emphatic if attempts to prevent the PPP from forming government in a province succeeded.
In Sindh, the race for number game has entered most crucial stage with efforts to keep the People’s Party Parliamentarians away fro power despite the fact that they have polled most of the votes cast in the country.
As the Grand National Alliance does not have the requisite strength, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, being the second largest party in the House, has become a serious contender for the top provincial slot. The PPP has still not lost a hope of succeeding in government formation.
Mr Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, chief of the GNA told reporters at an Iftar party, hosted by Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Wednesday, that the GNA had decided to continue its efforts, though it lacked the requisite strength, for the formation of a coalition with other parties. In this context, he said, negotiations with the PPP and MQM were under way as “politics is the game of numbers.”
Asked whether PML-Q was blackmailing the GNA on the Sindh coalition, Mr Jatoi replied: “we supported their candidate at the Centre and we have sought their support for our candidate in the province.” He said that this was agreed at the high-level parleys.
He was not sure that the government, which will be formed after the election of new prime minister, would lead to stability because a potential opposition would be there. His remarks about Arbab Rahim’s candidature for the post of chief minister were indicative of some sort of reservation on his part.
The Sindh PPP chief, Nisar Khuhro, said that efforts were continuing to bridge the gap and form a stable government in the province. For this purpose he said the PPP had also approached the MQM so as to ensure a durable stability.
He expressed the hope that his party would succeed in forming government in the province. He rejected the perception that a forward bloc was emerging within the party in Sindh. Syed Qaim Ali Shah was more hopeful about the PPP’s success in this regard citing ‘positive indications’. He deplored the formation of forward block within the party at the National Assembly and dismissed possibility of any such development in the provincial set up.
The vote in Sindh generally represented rejection of the government policies as the PPP Parliamentarians bounced back despite government pressures and achieved a clear majority in the interior of the province. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement retained its majority in Karachi, though losing some ground to Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal. The latter had contested from a platform which was critical of the American policies.
The trend reflected a clear cut divide between urban and rural Sindh which was indicative of the upcoming polarization.
