ISLAMABAD, Dec 18: Mian Raza Rabbani, acting secretary-general of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has said it is strange for the PML-Q to claim that it has not indulged in horse-trading in the formation of government in Sindh.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the PPP leader said that in the session of the Sindh Assembly called to ascertain Leader of the House, the PML-Q candidate had obtained 89 votes.

He said the minimum requirement for a majority was 85 votes. There were four ‘lotas’ of the People’s Party Parliamentarians and one of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal who had voted for the PML-Q candidate, he said and added that without them Ali Mohammad Mahar had only 84 votes. The Sindh government like the federal government was also based on horse-trading, he commented.

The PPP leader said: “It will be recalled that in the National Assembly the PM could not have won a one-vote majority without the turncoats of the Peoples Party Parliamentarians who in turn were rewarded. It is also a matter of record that in Balochistan the PML-Q compromised on the principles of good governance in order to have its government. It agreed to release two former ministers convicted under the NAB Ordinance and subsequently released all those persons belonging to the banned religious parties.

“Governments based on such political compromises are weak as they have no moral or political foundation. They tend to fall under the weight of their own political bribery and inherent contradictions. It is these fears that prevent the government from announcing a schedule of the Senate elections, because it seeks to keep parliament incomplete in terms of Article 50 of the Constitution so that the National Assembly will remain unable to legislate.”

He demanded that parliament should be completed in terms of Article 50 of the Constitution and the Senate election schedule to be announced immediately.

In another statement, a PPP spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, has said the remarks of Prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in Karachi that democracy had been restored according to the road map given by Gen Musharraf is a half truth.