LAHORE, April 9: The Pakistan Awami Tehrik, 'outcast' from both the political as well as religious parties -- and hated alike by the ruling coalition and the two major opposition alliances -- is holding closed-door meetings these days
to identify reasons which reduced the party into a worthless entity over the years and decide steps needed to restore its credibility.
Despite tall claims about its vote bank, the party could get only a single National Assembly seat in the general elections, and top leaders are convinced that the party stands no future if it continues to follow the policy of the past years.
Insiders hold the party chairman responsible for making the PAT a party of 'untouchables'. They think that the situation would and could have been much more different if the collective wisdom had been allowed to prevail and the party had not made the U-turns which it did at the cost of its credibility.
It is said that the role of the chairman is now being curtailed and political decisions will be taken in a more democratic manner. The PAT chairman, sources say, will no longer have the power to reverse decisions taken by the party.
Also, it is said, the chairman will now devote most of his time to the Tehrik Minhajul Quran, leaving the political field to the executive, now headed by a president. So far, there was no office of the president.
Sources say leaders of the Tehrik Minhajul Quran will have nothing to do with the PAT nor will they interfere in the PAT's decision-making process. However, they will continue to support the PAT at all levels.
It is said that now the PAT's executive will frame its policies keeping in mind the objective conditions, and a change will be made only when necessary. The chairman's opinion on various issues will be taken before the finalization of the decision. However, once a decision is taken, the chairman will not be able to change it even if it is not in accordance with his thinking.
Policies will be worked out to achieve the objectives for which the PAT had been launched, no matter whether the new thinking takes the party closer to the ruling alliance or opposition parties.
It may be pointed out that no religious party likes to sit in the company of the PAT because of its past conduct. And the PAT has repeatedly said that it is not a religious party.
Many political parties got annoyed with the PAT when it left the (now defunct) Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) after Dr Tahirul Qadri left its chairmanship, which was to go to somebody else in rotation.
The PAT's love-hate relationship with President Musharraf has distanced it from the PML-Q, though the latter gives tremendous importance to every single vote because of its thin majority in the National Assembly.
