PDM likely to hit wicket itself

By: Dr. Qazi Shahzaib Ud Din Hamza

Pakistan Democratic Movement, an alliance of more than ten parties led by Maulana Fazal Ur Rehman, is in an abrupt state of confusion from the beginning. Different parties of PDM kept on changing their demands & from in house change to midterm elections, all went in vain due to lack of coordination and difference of interest of every political force of PDM. Although PTI led government helped opposition through high inflation, poor administration, sugar scandal and many more things in the list but despite of all this, the government managed to save itself. PDM from the very start was out spoken and that hurts itself too. This movement, in a particular language of cricket, is going to be hit wicket. How, let’s have a closer look.
A Long march to Islamabad by late January or early February was announced by the Pakistan democratic movement on Sunday, as it put on a show of power at Lahore’s Minar -e-Pakistan. It was also said that the opposition could resign if necessary. In short opposition has put all their trump cards on the table. But until now, PDM failed to grab anything to be labeled a remarkable achievement. The main reason behind this failure is that the parties in the PDM alliance are too far away from each other from ideological perspective. Everyone including Maulana knows that his party JUI-F cannot get a clear majority in the elections whenever elections are held. The role of JUI is just like of a supporting player at the non-striker end and let one of the two joints to play good enough to knock down Imran Khan. But in the past few days or particularly one week, we see a clear rift between JUI and PPP due to some administrational issues at Larkana city. Maulana did not even attend the PPP’s December 27 meeting that was held regarding Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary. There is a general perception among the opposition parties that after facing a revolt-like situation in Baluchistan and Khy­ber Pakhtunkhwa, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has considered it better to skip the PPP-hosted gathering of PDM leaders at Larkana on Sun­day (today) to avoid a similar situation in Sindh. At the same time, PPP has expressed reservations over the issue of resignations from the very beginning, while Maulana is very clear on the same matter. PPP does not want to lose Sindh Govt and deprive itself from getting a second best position in the Senate by giving resignations. Maulana is also facing burdensome within the party because many of his close friends and iconic leaders of JUI are not in favor of Maulana to run the party as per agenda of PML-N and particularly Nawaz Sharif. The differences are so great now that Maulana Sherani, ex-chief of the Council of Islamic Ideology, in a press conference announced to split JUI Pakistan from JUI-F. It is to be noted that Sherani has huge number of followers in KPK which will hurt JUI in any upcoming elections. Apart from the tussle between the JUI head and NAB, now Federal government has decided to take action against JUI-F leader Mufti Kifayatullah over his remarks against Pakistan Army. The aggressive attitude of the party leaders is harming the party itself which will automatically effect PDM.
PPP and PML-N remain very calm and cooperative in their ties with each other but from the past few weeks, PPP is turning the table quickly. They link the matter of resignations and long march with the presence of Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan, which is currently turning to be the biggest fragility for PML-N. Senior leadership of PPP clearly knows that If Nawaz Sharif had to come back; he would have come with his mother’s dead body. This situation clearly depicts that PPP wants to keep the door open to withdraw from the long march. Realizing all this, PML-N has also changed its strategy. Maryam Nawaz Sharif and co-leaders have decided to contest by-elections and Senate elections and not to leave the field empty. Most of the PML-N leaders expressed concerns over the attitude of the PPP leadership in a recent party meeting. In the past few days, we have seen a mass coverage of Muhammad Ali Durrani a key leader of PML- Functional. It was told that former information minister Muhammad Ali Durrani will meet opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif at Kot Lakhpat Jail along with a high-level party delegation. Durrani after the meeting states that as the head of his party’s delegation, he conveyed an important message from Pir Pagara to the opposition leader. Shahbaz Sharif despite of being the party head is almost irrelevant these days as most of the decisions are done in London and announced through Maryam Nawaz. The hidden aspects of this important meeting need to be considered. Given the situation so far, it would not be wrong to say that the government does not need to formulate strategies to tackle opposition rather PDM is likely to hit wicket itself.