ISLAMABAD, March 26: Differences between the two main coalition partners over the allocation of some key ministries have hamstrung Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani by delaying the formation of his cabinet, political sources said on Wednesday.
Special teams of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) have been burning midnight oil for weeks to settle the division and allocation of ministries among four coalition partners.
The sources said that after what was described as the final round of their talks, the negotiators would ask their leaders — PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zadari and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif — to end the row that keeps many people wondering about the wisdom of the delay because of the intensity of problems facing the new government despite an initial euphoria over its induction.
However, it became clear late on Wednesday that a final decision would be made by Saturday when the National Assembly, summoned by President Musharraf, would hold a special session at 10am in response to a ruling coalition resolution for a mandatory vote of confidence in the new prime minister.
The coalition parties, which also include the NWFP-based Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F (JUI-F) of the rump Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal alliance, have agreed to share the cake in proportion to their National Assembly seats won in the Feb 18 election.
But, three days after Mr Gilani was elected by the National Assembly as the first prime minister of the PPP in 12 years and of President Musharraf’s political opponents in eight and a half years, they were arguing over which ministries should go to whom.
Some irritation was also caused over the possibility of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) joining the ruling coalition after the party members voted for Mr Gilani rather than the joint opposition’s Chaudhry Pervez Elahi.
The coalition parties had also agreed in the beginning to start with a small cabinet and never, in their five-year tenure, equal the record 70-plus crowd of former prime minister Shaukat Aziz.
But political sources said pressures had begun to build up to have a bigger cake and a bigger share in it.
Political sources said the publicly announced reservations by the PML-N and the ANP mainly over allegations of an MQM role, which the party denies, in last year’s May 12 massacre in Karachi could preclude chances of the MQM having a share in the federal cabinet, though it could have share in the PPP’s Sindh provincial cabinet.
The MQM, which was key ally in the former ruling coalition, seems to be in a quandary now by offering unconditional support to Mr Gilani’s election and in a vote of confidence for him while sitting in opposition benches and being a signatory to a request sent to the house speaker to nominate Mr Pervez Elahi as the leader of opposition.
Mr Gilani’s oath-taking on Tuesday was a rarity that a prime minister did not have even a skeleton cabinet with him to mark a comparatively calm induction of his government after a day of big noise on his election by the assembly, though usually anti-establishment Bhutto slogans rang though a depressed presidency.
Despite public shows of camaraderie between the PPP and PML-N, their negotiators seem to be taking tough positions particularly over the allocation of the important ministries like foreign affairs, defence, interior, finance, and information and broadcasting.
Even the junior partner ANP is reported to be insisting on its demand – the two major parties resisting it – that it be given the ministry of water and power apparently because of the NWFP-based Pakhtun nationalist party’s concerns over problems of payment to the province of royalty of electricity produced there and over the controversial plans to build the Kalabagh dam that it says will submerge large fertile swathes of what is known as Peshawar valley.
It has also been reported that in an apparent moment of non-seriousness, negotiators tired of arguments, drew lots about the allocation of the portfolios only to find a result that some considered incompatible with their plans.
But the political sources said the last round of negotiation on Wednesday before a late-evening meeting of the negotiators with Mr Zardari had made some headway though the final decision would await an agreement between the PPP and PML-N leaders.
The sources also said the first instalment of the cabinet would consist of up to 20 ministers, including 10 from the PPP, eight from the PML-N and one each to the ANP and the JUI. However, they said the number could be even 15 to be distributed among the parties in the same proportion and there could be one minister from the independents from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas if the strength was stretched to 21.
