LIFE at the Karachi airport isn’t quite like the calm exchanges between parliamentarians belonging to the PPP and the PML-N. Down at the airport last week, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah spent an entire night watching a mix of various security agencies take on the militants, and waiting for the federal interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, to ring him up.

The chief minister’s personal assistant turned out to be luckier on that count, being the proud recipient of a power-buzz from Chaudhry Sahib, at a time when so much else needed to be attended to.

The gap between Sindh and the centre on that horrifying night allowed some grumbling to creep in and some questions to be asked. The PPP’s senators showed their disappointment on the Chaudhry Nisar ‘no-show’ by asking him to resign, and the interior minister has in his turn reminded Sindh of all the terror alerts his staff had been routing Qaim Ali Shah’s way since November last.

Recalling these warnings projects the efficiency of the federal government just as it adds to the provincial government’s reputation of not being too bothered about the work at hand, however pressing the assignment.

By coming up with its own sober, non-combative initiative in the elected houses, the PML-N is trying to act as a grown-up party, in contrast to the PTI.

These exchanges may not be uncommon in the relationship between the PML-N in Islamabad and the PPP in Karachi, but they — as yet— do not quite rise above unavoidable sparring. The closest thing to a conflict, in recent weeks, where the PPP has found reason to be suspicious of its partner in democracy have been the legal cases against some PPP stalwarts such as Yousuf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf and Makhdoom Amin Fahim.

The slight stiffening of tone and the doubt-tinged messages have so far not had a profound impact on the debate inside parliament where the atmosphere is sometimes incredulously cordial. The PPP, again in the name of establishing democracy on a sound footing, has so far been more than willing to bail out the ruling PML-N from some tough spots. Indeed, so potently friendly have been the ties between the two that some analysts believed the PPP was even willing to forego a lashing-out opportunity over the already infamous Protection of Pakistan Ordinance.

The latest closing of ranks between the two arch rivals of the past has come over the need to have electoral reforms. Reports last week said the treasury and the PPP as the main opposition party in parliament had “agreed on the constitution of an all-parties parliamentary committee on electoral reforms”. “The consensus was evolved at a meeting between the government team led by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and the opposition team lead [sic] by Khursheed Shah. The proposal for the parliamentary committee was put forward by Shah and the government side agreed to it.”

A report said the “government has already started working on setting up such a committee and ... all political parties will be taken on board before its formation.” And then, of course, was mentioned the reason behind the urgency for the call: “Both sides also agreed to resist any move that may put the democratic system in danger” — a clear reference to the challenge posed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, which has, through its own method of repetition, been able to create quite a lot of noise about all that it sees bad with the electoral system in Pakistan.

The PML-N has been urging the PTI and Imran Khan to take their case to the parliament. By coming up with its own sober, non-combative initiative in the elected houses, the PML-N is trying to act as a grown-up party in contrast to the PTI’s loud, inter-city chorus in the streets. And the PPP, so far, is willing to play a supporting role in getting the PML-N what it wants.

It doesn’t take too much of digging up to trace the causes for this PPP strategy, over and above the high slogans to save and nurture democracy. The PPP bosses obviously realise they must keep a good enough relationship with the federal government to be able to continue governing Sindh with as little friction with the centre as possible. Power in Sindh is what the PPP was willing to be content with a year ago and the party probably sees no reason to change its opinion about its prospects in practical politics up-country.

If the PPP thinks it has not much to gain from stirring a dispute with the PML-N, it is not far off in its estimates of its standing in parts of the country outside Sindh. But the cases against the PPP’s big leaders can be a problem. That will have to entail some protest, if for no other purpose than to avoid further erosion in the party’s already depleted ranks.

Now this is a potential breakup point in the relationship between the PPP and the PML-N, a delicate issue for the Sharif camp as well since it cannot distance itself from this court matter as simply as it seeks to distance itself from Gen Musharraf’s trial. Unlike the Musharraf case, the trial of the PPP leaders could push it into confrontational politics within the parliament, which the PML-N politicians tirelessly advocate as the go-to forum for resolutions to problems in their current fight with the ‘anti-system’ PTI.

There is also some merit in the argument that describes the PPP-PML-N partnership in parliament as largely ceremonial that offers little in terms of a combined thrust for solving the people’ s issues. The absence of a link between the Sindh government and the interior ministry in Islamabad on that scary night at the Karachi airport would inevitably embolden talk about a grand façade that ill conceals a lack of real common purpose.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore. 

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2014