KARACHI, Oct 11: Despite a clean sweep in Sindh, the People’s Party Parliamentarians do not seem to be in a position as yet to form government on its own in the province without the collaboration of either independents or its former coalition partner, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

According to unofficial vote count, the PPP has, so far, secured 55 provincial assembly seats in which two potential candidates for the chief ministership have been elected. They are: PPP provincial chief Nisar Khuhro and former chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah.

But in view of groupings within the party, the choice may not be a simple matter.

The PPP is hopeful of improving its numbers till the final count to be in a position to form the government on its own. In case of minor deficit, however, it may woo the three independents to bridge the gap.

Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto, in her telephonic press conference on Oct 8, had not ruled out cooperation with the MQM, provided past was buried to make a new beginning.

The defeat of the ANP-PPP alliance in the NWFP, where the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal obtained the required majority to form its government, might influence the PPP’s decision in Sindh.

This also seems to be probable after Benazir in her interview with a foreign wire service demanded fresh elections, and said the vote count in favour of the PML(Q) and MMA was manipulated.

While she rejected results in the overall national context, the MQM also called the vote count in favour of the MMA in Sindh, particularly in Karachi, a fraud and manipulation.

It was interesting to note that while Benazir was outraged by the massive votes in favour of the religious parties, her choice as Parliamentarians president, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who secured over 100,000 votes, was not averse to evolving a working relationship with the religious parties, who, he said, were given vote by the people in a particular environment. He was of the view that these parties had also played a role in democratic dispensation.

Sources within the PPP said in view of the position taken by Benazir, the party might keep the option of a coalition with the MQM in Sindh open but, it was worried about the preconditions Muttahida had put in the past over power-sharing which had made the coalition ineffective and failed to remove mistrust.

Besides, the position taken by the MQM on provincial autonomy, which in many ways differed with that of the PPP, in modus operandi, and the new found brotherly relations between Urdu-and Sindhi-speaking ‘Haq Parast’ could stall the move.

Perhaps things would clear up when Amin Fahim begins negotiation on return from London.