Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari has reportedly proposed to the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) that the opposition would benefit from a joint-candidature in the upcoming Senate elections.
The final decision on this matter would be taken during the meeting of the PDM scheduled for February 4. This meeting is also likely to discuss the no-confidence motion proposed by party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
An informed source told Pakistan Today that the PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has contacted Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif as well as Zardari in an attempt to bridge the differences between the leaders of the major parties of the alliance regarding the long march.
Fazl made an effort to convince the PPP leader for the long march, however, Zardari did not give in and rather proposed that the PDM’s major parties – PML-N, PPP and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) should contest Senate polls as an alliance.
The source said that Fazl first contacted Nawaz Sharif by phone and discussed important issues, including the strategy of the long march against the government. The source said that during the talks, the leaders of the top PDM parties discussed the strategy to make the anti-government movement effective, including the Senate elections.
Later, Fazl told media that the PDM is not negotiating with the government or the establishment.
“If anyone wants to talk to us, they should come forth and meet our demands. There is an option of tabling no-confidence motion against the prime minister but it does not seem to be practical. We have asked the PPP to convince the PDM allies on this proposal,” the JUI-F said while responded to a question.
He also confirmed that the PPP has proposed to the other major parties of the PDM to contest the Senate election jointly and this matter is being discussed.
He maintained that while the PDM allies may come up with their own proposals, the decisions are taken unanimously. He added that both Nawaz and Zardari fully agree on the need to oust the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
“Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari may have different approaches but the goal is the same. We did not take a U-turn on submitting [en-mass] resignations from assemblies and taking out long march against the government. But we have changed our strategy. The government would have benefited if we had resigned from assemblies before the Senate elections. The resignations and the long march will take place after the Senate election,” he added.
Fazl said that he had lodged a protest to Zardari for floating his proposal of no-confidence motion on the PDM platform.
“Such statements should be avoided after all decisions have been made in consultation. It would have been better if the PPP had brought a proposal in the PDM meeting on February 4 and the decision would have been taken by consensus,” he asserted.
“We have already suffered due to no-confidence motion tabled against Senate chairman,” he added, expressing his disagreement with the idea.
The PDM chief took another summersault over his previous threat of taking out a long march towards Rawalpindi, saying that the PDM was not interested in marching towards the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
“If [the military is] neutral then their neutrality should be visible. The people know better what happened in the Gilgit-Baltistan elections,” argued Fazl.
A day earlier, Zardari had insisted that there was no division within the ranks of the 11-party anti-government coalition.
Speaking to the secretary-general of the PPP’s Punjab chapter, Chaudhry Manzoor, during a phone call, Zardari had said that the opposition parties’ coalition under the PDM banner “is united and will strike the government from all directions”.
“The PDM will use all options, in turn, to get rid of the PTI government,” he had said.
“The country is in grave danger and the [incumbent] rulers are likely to make a huge blunder,” the former president had maintained, adding that it is “crucial to send the government packing”.
“The incompetence of these inept rulers may lead to a major accident in the country [and therefore] the next few months are crucial for the future of national politics.”
Speaking of the ongoing pandemic, the PPP leader had stressed that the Imran administration would “no longer be allowed to hide behind coronavirus”.
“They [government] could neither purchase the coronavirus vaccine nor could they help people during the coronavirus pandemic,” he stated.
Comparing the PTI regime to his own government, Zardari had cited the Great Recession and said: “We increased exports from $19 billion to $26 billion despite the 2008 global financial crisis.”
“We doubled the country’s revenue, increased the salaries of employees by 125 per cent. We bumped up government employees’ pensions by 100 per cent,” he had added.
Slamming the “incompetent” PTI government, he had said that the rulers had “turned all indicators negative”.
“I said in the past that these elected rulers will fall under their own weight. Now that they have crashed, only one last shove is needed.
“Together with the PDM, the PPP will send this failed and incompetent lot home,” he had vowed.
It is pertinent to mention here that PML-N, the largest opposition party, on Monday had decided to contest the Senate elections.
On Monday, many members of the National Assembly and senators, including former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Senator Raja Zafarul Haq, Rana Sanaullah, had attended a party meeting wherein PML-N Vice President Maryam had said that the party will continue to play a full role in the parliament.
Maryam had directed the MPs to continue playing their full role in the upper house and to give a tough time to the government on national and public issues.
The PML-N VP had said that there would be no dialogue with the government now and any decision on resignation from the assemblies by the PDM would be one that is acceptable to all parties.
“The rulers have tried every method but they could not break the PML-N and the PDM. The forces who wanted to get us out of politics and the political arena will fail,” she had said.
Last week, the Senate chairman had termed the option to seek open ballots as one that would promote transparency and accountability in the electoral process.
He had said that the top court has always interpreted the Constitution of the country by keeping the public interest in view.
“The parliament has the prerogative to make amendments in the law, while the Supreme Court has the right to interpret the constitution,” Sanjrani had added.
“It is consensus among all stakeholders including parliamentarians, political parties, intelligentsia, journalist and civil society that free and fair elections to elect members of the Senate of Pakistan would promote transparency and accountability in the electoral process, acknowledge respect for the will of the voters, strengthen political parties and their discipline which is essential for parliamentary democracy”, the chairman of the upper house had said in his reply for presidential reference seeking the apex court’s interpretation for open ballet in upcoming Senate elections.
The federal government has filed the reference in the top court under Article 186 of the Constitution seeking its opinion about holding the upcoming Senate polls through the open ballot. The government has sought the opinion of the court if the issue can be decided without amending the Constitution by introducing an Amendment in Section 122 (vi) of the Election Act 2017.
