KARACHI, June 17: Prevailing political uncertainty regarding the next general elections has created chaos among the country’s political and religious parties.
Although both the right-wing religious as well as moderate but popular political parties have formulated or joined grand alliances, a majority of them are still wondering as to how to form their opinions independently amid the rapid political developments taking place in Islamabad.
A majority of the parties are unable to finalize their policy vis-a-vis the forthcoming elections, as sudden changes in the government policy forces them to keep changing theirs.
The core issue confronting the political pundits is whether to resist President Musharraf’s moves or adopt a wait-and-see policy, as they have no answer to what is good for the people and the nation, commented political analysts.
The condition about educational qualification for candidates contesting the polls is another blow to all the major political and religious parties because the condition leaves many of their top-ranking leaders ineligible for polls, and creates opportunities for second rankers to come to the front.
These petty problems have kept politicians so preoccupied that they are not finding enough time to approach the people.
On being asked, leaders of a number of political and religious parties expressed dissatisfaction over the rapid developments. Some of them voiced satisfaction and said that they were quite in accordance with their own programme, but opposed other decisions.
Despite the fact that some decisions were beneficial to them, they were unanimous on one point — that the present government has no authority to bring amendments to the constitution and the right rested with an elected parliament only.
They were of the view that the present government must avoid taking such steps in the name of constitutional amendments, as the practice will have an irreparable impact on the national political horizon.
Acting General Secretary, PPP, Raza Rabbani, alleged that all the government steps were based on malafide intentions in a bid to control the final results of polls to save the king’s party.
Senior VP, PML-N, Ejaz Shafi, said that day-to-day decisions are disturbing the political parties as they have failed to reach a final policy conclusion about the upcoming elections.
To support his words, he cited examples of increased seats in the National Assembly. “How will the government afford extra expenses in account of salaries. The capacity in the Sindh Assembly building is also very limited,” he maintained.
Meraj Mohammad Khan, General Secretary, Pakistan Tehreek-i- Insaf, also admitted that rapid changes have created difficulties for political parties and they are unable to finalize their election strategy.
He urged that the government must ensure participation of the parties in the process of decision-making, instead of imposing self-made decisions.
He backed a number of government decisions, including the joint electoral system and increase in women seats, and recalled that the 1973 Constitution was adopted unanimously not only by the leaders of political parties, but also by the representatives of religious parties such as Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, Maulana Mufti Mehmood and Prof Ghafoor Ahmed.
Deputy Convener, MQM, Aftab Sheikh, said the apex court’s conditional permission under doctrine of necessity to the present government to remain in power till certain objectives are met, does not authorize it to make vital amendments to the constitution.
The provincial chief of Jamat-i-Islami, Asadullah Bhutto, termed the amendments unnecessary and controversial.—PPI