ISLAMABAD, Dec 4: Political antagonists have gone into an uneasy Eid-ul-Fitr recess but without sheathing their swords, ready to resume battles after festivities to fight out Pakistan’s lingering post-election political confusion.

Nearly two months after the Oct 10 elections produced the country’s most divided National Assembly, the new civilian federal government of Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali is still searching for its moorings, owing its existence mainly to the goodwill of President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Of the four provinces, only the Punjab has installed a trouble-free new administration of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q), which has the absolute majority in the provincial assembly.

The administration of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six Islamic parties, in the North-west Frontier Province and that of the PML-Q and MMA coalition in Balochistan have made unimpressive starts, marked by Islamic slogan-mongering in the NWFP and dubious pardons of prisoners, including some convicted politicians, in Balochistan as part of a political bargaining.

Sindh has been the most unfortunate of the lot not to have an elected government yet and still unsure of the shape of its ruling coalition that may emerge from the provincial assembly session called for Dec 12 after two postponements.

A volte-face by the Sindh-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has spared the 12-day-old Jamali government its unenviable distinction of becoming a minority only four days after taking office on Nov 23.

But political sources said the 17-seat MQM’s return to the fold, which restored Jamali to only a 172-seat majority from 155-seat minority in the 342-seat National Assembly, would still leave Jamali’s position very shaky in a faction-ridden coalition and a history of unpredictable MQM moves.

When the MQM withdrew its support from the PML-Q on Nov 27, it complained of the government’s failure to clear the so-called “no-go areas” of Karachi from the control of rival Mohajir Qaumi Movement (Haqiqi).

But while that pledge remained to be fulfilled, the MQM’s announcement on Tuesday of “unconditional” support for the embattled prime minister was linked to its demand for getting the chief minister’s slot in Sindh.

This demand is likely to draw a lot of crossfire because the provincial chief ministership is eyed not only by the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP), which is the largest group in the provincial assembly, but also by different PML-Q allies as well.

Political sources said the MQM could stage yet another about-turn and leave Jamali in the lurch if he proves true to his latest assurances not to create any hurdles for the Sindh majority party to form a provincial government.

“But the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said about Jamali’s assurances, voicing doubts that the government would engage in the same type of “horse-trading” that was seen in the prime ministerial election by the National Assembly last month.

Jamali’s election was made possible after the government won over the MQM at the eleventh hour with a pledge to clear the Karachi’s “no-go areas” and 10 PPP MNAs of the so-called “forward bloc” switched sides.

MQM’s return has released some of the pressure that Jamali felt from opposition demands that he seek an early vote of confidence from the National Assembly.

But while 48 days are left for the prime minister to get the mandatory confidence vote (within 60 days after taking office), the opposition parties seem set to mount pressure on PML-Q after the Eid for the withdrawal of the controversial Legal Framework Order that gives sweeping powers to President Musharraf.

The MMA has set Dec 17 for the next meeting of its supreme council in Peshawar to chalk out its future moves. However, the PPP will follow the strategy of the 15-party Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy which is likely to meet in the second week of December.

PPP parliamentary leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim returned home on Wednesday after discussing the country’s political situation with the party’s self-exiled chairperson Benazir Bhutto in Dubai.