ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan People’s Party has dubbed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as the “father of horse-trading”.
Senior PPP leaders alleged that Nawaz Sharif was blaming Asif Ali Zardari for something that he himself “invented” in the 1990s.
PPP central Punjab President Qamar Zaman Kaira, while speaking to The Nation, said Nawaz Sharif “founded” horse-trading to twice topple Benazir Bhutto’s governments in the 1990s.
“It is interesting that the father of the horse-trading is accusing Asif Ali Zardari and the PPP of horse-trading. He [Nawaz Sharif] is only trying to hide his own failures,” he said.
The PPP leader said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz did not deliver in Balochistan which led to the fall of its Chief Minister, Nawab Sanaullah Khan Zehri.
The PML-N leader remained the Balochistan chief minister from December 24, 2015, to January 9, 2018.
He had succeeded Abdul Malik Baloch as the chief minister as part of the power-sharing deal.
Zehri resigned as cabinet members and treasury lawmakers revolted against him.
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi advised Zehri to quit instead of facing a no-confidence motion in the provincial assembly, which he was bound to lose.
Zardari, the PPP co-chairman, later admitted, he had supported the move to remove Zehri as the CM as he had disappointed the people of Balochistan.
This week, a PML-N meeting, presided over by Nawaz Sharif, decided to stop Zardari from “horse-trading” and “manipulating” the March 3 Senate polls.
This came amid reports that Zardari had been meeting the Balochistan lawmakers and cabinet members to seek their support for the Senate polls.
The Election Commission of Pakistan said that four senators would be elected on general seats from the Federally-Administrated Tribal Areas, 11 from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan each, two from Islamabad and 12 each from Sindh and Punjab.
In the 104-member Senate, 52 members will complete their tenure in March.
The Senate is represented by 23 members each from the four provinces, eight from the Fata and four from Islamabad.
The 23 seats from the provinces include 14 general seats, four for women and technocrats each and one for minorities.
Qamar Zaman Kaira said Nawaz Sharif should check the disintegration in the PML-N instead of accusing others of conspiring against the ruling party.
“Obviously all parties are preparing for elections. We are aiming to do better,” he remarked.
The PPP has been accused in the past of playing “friendly opposition” as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan confronted Sharif’s government.
But as the general elections approached, Zardari ended the reconciliation policy towards the government but still did not go as far as the PTI.
Later, the PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said he would show the government what a “real opposition is” – hinting at changing the gears.
Bilawal’s late mother, Benazir Bhutto, and Nawaz Sharif have a bitter past where they took turns to rule the country in incomplete terms in the 1990s.
They signed a Charter of Democracy during Pervez Musharraf’s military rule to respect each other’s mandate and protest democracy.
The PPP leader Nafisa Shah said that Nawaz Sharif had “invented” the horse-trading in the 1990s and conspired against the two Benazir Bhutto-led governments.
The slain PPP leader was removed twice as the prime minister in 1990 and 1996 by then presidents – Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari.
The PPP claims Nawaz Sharif conspired both the times to stop Benazir Bhutto from completing the stipulated five-year term.
However, Sharif also never completed a five-year term as the PM despite being elected three times – unprecedented in the country.
Nafisa Shah said that the PML-N could not come up to the expectations of the people in Balochistan, which led to its fall.
“Yes, the PPP supported the people who moved the no-confidence motion against Zehri but the PPP does not even have a member in the Balochistan Assembly. The PML-N has itself to blame for its failure,” she contended.
The lawmaker from Sindh said the PPP did not believe in illegally or constitutionally removing any elected government.
“This credit [of introducing horse-trading in politics] goes to them. We believe in democracy and support the rule of law. They [the PML-N] are blaming us for something that we have never done and for what they are notorious for,” she argued.
PPP Information Secretary Maula Bux Chandio said the PML-N was “falling apart” due to its wrong policies.
“The Panama leaks exposed their crimes and the people now know about their [PML-N leadership’s] corruption. They [the PML-N leaders] are not trying to find excuses for their failures,” he said.