ISLAMABAD - Division in the joint opposition has made the otherwise tough contest in the presidential elections a one-sided affair for the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the ruling coalition will likely cash in on this abhorrence and hatred between Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in the future as well.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf and allies backed candidate Dr Arif Alvi secured 353 votes which is more than the sum of the votes bagged by Pakistan People’s Party candidate Ch Aitzaz Ahsan 124 votes and rest of opposition parties’ candidate Maulana Fazlur Rehman who managed to bag 185 votes.

In the face of imminent defeat in the presidential race the leaders of both Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) entered into blame game even much before the close of voting time and holding each other responsible for giving walkover to ruling alliance candidate.

Pakistan People’s Party leaders said that it was Shehbaz Sharif’s animosity against their leadership which had tarnished the opposition parties’ unity while PML-N leaders seemed playing stooge in the hands of PTI.

The acrimonious and bitter past would keep haunting both these parties and the opposition parties would unlikely land on same page to the advantage of PTI-led fragile coalition government, political analysts and observers commented.

These analysts said that in the Parliament the collective votes of opposition candidates Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Ch Aitzaz Ahsan made parity to the votes bagged by Arif Alvi that means the opposition parties jointly could not let the PTI government function even in case of simple legislation what to speak of any constitutional amendment which will be impossible without the support of opposition parties.

But the divide in ranks of opposition parties, which would likely aggravate in coming days would definitely help PTI government manage the things.

In National Assembly, the government would remain hostage to its allies like Grand Democratic Alliance and Muttahida Qoumi Movement-Pakistan while on the other hand they would be under pressure from the opposition parties and in case the opposition parties would land on same page it would become extremely difficult for PTI to manage things.

In the Senate the situation is even worse for the ruling alliance as opposition parties have a clear majority there and without their support no bill could sail through the Upper House in case the opposition parties stand united.

Though people like Maulana Fazlur Rehman and the leadership of nationalist parties from Balcohistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa still wanted to make some working relation between the two major parties in the opposition—-PPP and PML-N—- but so far all their efforts had badly failed and the division in the opposition parties had made things easy for PTI in the elections of Prime Minister where Imran Khan clinched the slot easily and now this divide has made it a cakewalk for Dr. Arif Alvi.

Now the next test case of opposition parties would be the demand of what they termed massive rigging in general elections through a Parliamentary Commission and if these parties would remain divided like in the recent past to bring down government on its knees on formation of a powerful Parliamentary Commission with tough ToRs would remain a far cry.

It were these targets in mind that MMA Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman spoke soft of PPP leadership even after all this mess up and said that he wanted to see opposition parties united for the sake of democracy. But at the same time he expressed his apprehensions about the impact of the bitterness created by the recent events between PPP and PML-N which would definitely have its impact on the relations of both these parties having a key role in the future course of opposition parties both in and outside the Parliament.

Divided Opp to benefit govt in future too