Cracks set to appear in PDM

ISLAMABAD    -   ‘The enemy of ene­my is my friend’ was the proverb often used when the alliance of eleven parties (Paki­stan Democratic Move­ment) had emerged last year against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf [PTI] to form its government.

This ‘unnatural alli­ance’ had successfully deposed Imran Khan as prime minister but so far failed to overcome the economic crunch in the country. The po­litical unrest is an ad­ditional dilemma, con­stantly looming over the upcoming general elections.

Over a year before, there was a reason for political parties to gath­er on a platform to de­feat Imran Khan. Now, a plethora of reasons are emerging for the alliance parties to part ways at any appropriate time. The status of Pakistan Peo­ple’s Party [PPP] has remained unclear in this alliance as in some of the decisions it has clearly dis­tanced itself by taking its own side. Political analysts believe that this ‘unnatural alliance’ has achieved its targets now it would be difficult to continue in its cur­rent shape. With the announce­ment of elections schedule, the romance would start exposing in the ruling clique.

All these parties may not de­velop consensus to hold polls according to the 2017 popula­tion census, selection of caretak­er prime minister, election battles and many other unpleasant rea­sons would develop in the com­ing days for the ruling alliance parities not to remain on a same page. PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has recently announced that the ruling alliance leadership will unanimously decide about the next elections date.

The constitutional experts, on a lighter note, commented that it was not the authority of the rul­ing alliance to decide the schedule of general elections in the country as the Election Commission of Pa­kistan [ECP] was constitutional­ly formed for this purpose. “The PDM’s chief might be referring to the dissolution of the assembly or completion of tenure of the cur­rent National Assembly. No doubt, it is the prerogative of Election Commission of Pakistan [ECP] to make a schedule of the next polls, “said former secretary Election Commission of Pakistan Kanwar Dilshad while talking to this news­paper. Background discussions with the senior members of rul­ing parties revealed that it’s really hard to remain on the same page on all the matters all the time. Difference of opinion in former arch-rivals [PPP-P and PML-N] on political matters is quite obvious and it would definitely increase on political matters with the elec­tions approaching, they said.

As the PDM’s chief hinted at de­lay of polls if a new wave of riots and economic crisis persisted in the country, the ruling alliance es­pecially Pakistan People’s Party and other factions might not sup­port this idea. Some heavyweights in PML-N has already hinted at de­lay in the polls even after the com­pletion of the current National Assembly tenure, completing on 13th August 2023. PML-N’s Ayaz Sadiq and others in their state­ments have clearly argued about delay in the polls. It may be re­called that there was a crisis with­in the PDM on several matters. The PML-N, JUI-F and smaller political parties wanted to launch the long march against the PTI but others were not in favour of it. The mat­ter of submitting their resignations in the Parliament and the provin­cial assemblies was also the rea­son for the differences. The PPP was against the idea of resignation and that had resulted in a signifi­cant difference within the PDM.