CURRENT coalition government is yet to complete its three months in office and cracks have started surfacing in their ranks as was predicted by many given their divergent political interests — something which is not in the interest of the country already facing dire consequences of political instability and uncertainty.
The first phase of local bodies elections in Sindh has only exposed the fragility of the coalition government.
Senior MQM-P leader and former mayor Karachi, Wasim Akhtar, on Monday accused coalition partner PPP of violating the agreement and “stealing” his party’s mandate during the first phase of the local government elections.
The PPP has been accused by other parties as well including JUI (F) of rigging the polls through different tactics.
Separately during the budget session in the National Assembly, the coalition partners made angry outbursts against the PML-N for not living up to the commitments.
The allies from Balochistan were concerned for ignoring the development schemes of the province in the PSDP.
All this clearly indicates that all is not well within the allied parties. The present government has a very thin majority of only two votes and withdrawal of support by any partner will be enough for its fall.
We were opposed to the ouster of former Prime Minister Imran Khan through the no confidence motion and given the current economic situation, we believe that any threat to the present government will only further deteriorate the situation.
PM Shehbaz Sharif has done the right thing by holding a meeting with the allied parties in order to address their concerns and keep them united.
At a time when an agreement with the IMF is about to be reached for the next tranche, it is important that a message of political stability goes out to the financial institutions.
Political parties will have to rise above their petty political interests to take the country in the right direction.
Major parties such as PPP and the PML-N need to honour the commitments with other partners.
Since serious reservations have been raised by different quarters on the Sindh local government elections, needful should be done to avoid the same in the next phase of local bodies’ polls in the province. The ECP will also have to fulfil its responsibility in this regard.
