The pebbles in the way of the PML(N) and PPP forming a government may be removed from their way, but it seems that there is no idea of what to do with the government once it is formed. There may be a dim realization that the old game of ins and outs, the exploiting of the holding of office, is now not going to wash, that the crisis is now too deep for comfort, that perhaps something new must be done. The government has seems to be taking shape is one to be led by PML(N) President Mian Shehbaz Sharif, with the only clarity about the role of the PPP being that it will support it. At least initially, it is expected to do so from outside, and will accept ministries only in a second phase, presumably along with the sort of accommodation of its own stalwarts and other allies as is usual in any coalition.
The PTI has put forward Umar Ayub Khan as its candidate for PM. Mr Khan is not a winning candidate, for he does not seem to be trying to put together the numbers. He is about as public an acknowledgement of defeat as the PTI seems ready to make. In the same way, Mr Aslam Iqbal’s being named as candidate for Punjab CM also indicates that the PTI does not think it will be forming the Punjab government. Both are at the moment still avoiding arrest over the May n9 attacks, and there thus remains a question mark over their turning up to take oath as Assembly members. In other words, it almost seems as if, by choosing them to contest, the party itself is going to surrender them.
The PML(N) may once again be burdened with choosing the Finance Minister. Though the parties are surprisingly silent over economic policy, considering that one view is that the poor economic performance of the outgoing government was the catalyst for the PTI’s success, the coalition does not seem to be paying enough attention to this choice. The PML(N) seems to be contemplating the return of Senator Ishaq Dar, not just because he is an economic wizard, but because he is very much Mian Nawaz’s man, and can oversee Mian Shehbaz for him. The problem is, Senator Dar may have been irremediably tarnished by his previous stint, and may not instill the kind of confidence a Finance Minister should.
