PPP to play role of opposition in Punjab.

ISLAMABAD: With the final burial of the Charter of Democracy between the PPP and the PML-N after the announcement of Mian Nawaz Sharif to say goodbye to the PPP in the Punjab, the People’s Party on Friday announced it would sit on the opposition benches in the Punjab Assembly and play an active and vibrant role of opposition to make the Punjab Government accountable.

It, however, reiterated that the policy of reconciliation will continue despite the odds.

The Top PPP leadership that includes Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Mian Raza Rabbani, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan, who accompanied the PPP leaders from Punjab Raja Riaz, Tanveer Ashraf Kaira and Information Secretary PPP Qamar Zaman Kaira addressed a press conference on Friday to respond to the PML-N decision of saying goodbye to the PPP.

“We will play an effective role of opposition in Punjab on issues relating to politics and will hold the Punjab Government accountable. We will nominate our leader of opposition in Punjab Assembly after consultation,” said Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Mian Raza Rabbani.

“The Punjab Government has decided to replay the politics of 1988 with the gang of Changa Manga,” said Law Minister Dr Babar Awan. The PPP response to PML-N decision through the press conference was a mixture of defensive batting of Mian Raza Rabbani and fast bowling attack of Dr Babar Awan, who threw bouncers to the PML-N on bringing the “lota culture” back into politics.

Law Minister Dr Babar Awan said the federal government will give its detailed response to PML-N decision to dissolve the Punjab government once the PML-N took action on the same. Raza Rabbani counted the measures on 10-point agenda, which were implemented by the government.

Babar Awan described Friday decision of the PML-N as “regrettable” as what he called Nawaz Sharif removed the democratic people of the Punjab and wore the ‘garland of lotas’.

In reply to a question, he said the PPP ministers will not resign from Punjab Government. He said the PPP government will complete its constitutional term and there will be no mid-term election as elections will be held in 2013. “If any one thinks about mid-term elections, he should just think as there is no bar on seeing dreams,” he added.

Raza Rabbani said despite playing the role of opposition, the PPP will not bring no-confidence motion in Punjab and will not become party to destabilise the system. However, at the same he demanded of the Punjab Government to implement Article 63-A of the Constitution to bring good governance as if it is not implemented it will weaken the political parties of the country.

He said after general elections, the PPP was in a position to form its own government in Punjab with the help of other parties minus the PML-N but it pursued the policy of reconciliation envisioned by Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.

Mian Raza Rabbani emphatically stated that there would be no political instability as a consequence of the latest development. In reply to a question, he said the Federal Government is fully stable and ruled out mid-term polls.

When asked whether the hidden hand again came into action, Rabbani did not see such a progress. Dr Babar Awan remarked that how the hidden hand could play its game in the presence of such a vibrant media.

Mian Raza Rabbani said the PPPP has taken serious and sincere steps for implementation of the 10-point agenda presented by Pakistan Muslim League-N and claimed that 100 percent progress was made on most of the points. “Pakistan People’s Party did not drag its feet because this 10-point agenda is our agenda and it is also part of our manifesto,” he added.

He pointed out that these ten points were part of the PPP manifesto and that is why the party leadership strived hard for its implementation in a sincere manner. He said most of the points of the agenda had already been implemented as the parliamentary committee formed by the prime minister is devising a mechanism for fixation of prices of POL products and the government has not increased the prices of oil for the last two months despite hike in its prices in the international market.

He said a transparent mechanism was worked out and presented before the PML-N negotiating team for appointment of chief executive officers of public sector entities. Raza Rabbani said a list of written off loans was sought from the State Bank and the central bank asked to identify politically written off loans out of first 100 cases of each bank.

Rabbani said a bill has been prepared for revival of magistracy to ensure effective price control while National Assembly speaker has notified names of the parliamentary committee for appointment of members of the Election Commission.

He said the Federal Government has also undertaken exercise to reduce expenditure by thirty percent and the size of the federal cabinet curtailed. He said board of nine Discos and other entities were finalised while work is in hand to set up boards of remaining ones during the next few weeks.

Mian Raza Rabbani said a Judicial Commission was instituted to probe the issue of hike in sugar prices while other instances pointed out by the PML-N were sub judice before the Supreme Court.

About accountability, Rabbani said draft of the bill was prepared and handed over to the PML-N team. Minister for Law Dr Babar Awan said there should be no horse-trading in Punjab and the law and constitution should be respected.

He said the PML-N was embracing those who were partners of General Pervez Musharraf. He said the PPP ministers in Punjab were happy with the PML-N decision as now they would play the role of effective ombudsmen in the province rather than junior partner of that government.

Dr Awan said during the meeting of the PML-N, a person who used to sit on the stage with General Musharraf was also sitting there. “From the slogans of revolution, only ‘Lotas’ (turncoats) were brought out,” he added.

He said rather than playing the politics of gang of Changa Manga, the PML-N should listen to the voices of Memoona Javed Hashmi. Dr Babar Awan said Shaheed Benazir Bhutto had opposed registration of cases against Mian Nawaz Sharif. “It was the PPP which convinced the PML-N to end the boycott of election,” he added.

Nawaz League, People’s Party part in political divorce.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s most famous political marriage of convenience ended in a divorce on Friday as Mian Nawaz Sharif signalled the ouster of the PPP from the PML-N’s Punjab government and both sides contradicted each other over the implementation of a 10-point agenda, raising fears of future tensions.

Mr Sharif announced “parting of ways” with the PPP at a news conference in Islamabad because of what he called unsatisfactory performance of the PPP-led federal coalition government in implementing his party’s economic-cum-political agenda during a 45-day deadline that ended on Wednesday.

As a consequence, he said, the PML-N’s Punjab chief minister and his younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, would dissolve his cabinet, which includes several PPP ministers, and form a new one, possibly with the breakaway “unification bloc” of the opposition PML-Q, which will give him the majority in the 371-seat provincial assembly. This, he said, would happen within two days, possibly on Saturday.

Federal ministers Raza Rabbani (inter-provincial coordination) and Babar Awan (law and parliamentary affairs) strongly rejected Mr Sharif’s claim about non-implementation of the agenda and one of them told a joint news conference afterwards that “significant progress” had been made in the available time.

Both vowed to pursue that programme as PPP’s own agenda and said their party would play the role of a “strong opposition” in Punjab.

The two parties, which had pledged to shun their wild rivalry of the 1990s in a Charter of Democracy signed in 2006, struggled together against former president Pervez Musharraf’s nine-year military rule that ended after February 2008 elections, in which the PPP emerged as the largest party, with PML-N coming second, but the largest in Punjab.

They formed a coalition government at the centre in March 2008, but the PML-N withdrew six months later, mainly over alleged PPP foot-dragging in restoring judges of superior courts sacked by Gen Musharraf.

While a troubled coalition continued in Punjab, the two parties maintained a measure of understanding over major issues at the national level, with the PML-N earning the calling of a “friendly opposition”, which the party seeks to shed with its latest decision.

Mr Sharif, speaking after chairing a meeting of his party’s central organising committee and lawmakers, avoided a clear answer when asked if the PPP ministers in the Punjab cabinet would be sacked, saying “a decision has been taken” and “modalities will be known by tomorrow”.

But he seemed to be downplaying speculation about a possible standoff between the country’s largest political parties, saying, in a reference to the famous battlefield of centuries ago in India: “We are not fighting a battle of Panipat. We are exercising our right. We want all this to be done in an amicable way.” The PML-N move and the PPP rebuttal came a day after the failure of what appeared as a last-minute effort by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to save the Punjab coalition and the broader understanding between the two parties when he met a PML-N delegation led by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Thursday.

MID-TERM POLLS: Mr Nawaz Sharif did not say if his party would launch a campaign for mid-term polls, but said such a demand would not be unconstitutional. He said his party gave sufficient time to the government to mend its ways in the interest of democracy “but the broken promises have brought us to such a tragic turn”.

He said tangible progress on certain points could have been made and that “even 30 per cent progress at this stage” would have been acceptable for his party. He said it was not a matter of 45 days but his party had been in talks with the PPP for the last three years marked by promises that were never fulfilled and agreements trashed. “Now we are not ready to become part of this game and are forced to say good-bye to the PPP.”

He said the decision had been taken by an overwhelming vote where not more than two per cent leaders opposed the idea, adding that he had also taken input from party workers at the grass-root level.

Mr Sharif rejected the charge of political horse-trading in Punjab with the formation of a 47-member “unification bloc” of the rival PML-Q, which is likely to join the new provincial coalition, saying those lawmakers would only return to their “parent party” they were forced to leave under the Musharraf regime.

At their news conference later, which seemed to have been planned in advance but announced after the PML-N decision, Mr Rabbani gave a point-by-point progress over the 10 points.

He and Mr Awan both ruled out any mid-term election as a consequence of Friday’s development and accused the PML-N chief of violating the Constitution by calling PML-Q forward bloc as a segment of his party.

With all seven PPP ministers in the Punjab cabinet seated on the stage at the Press Information Department auditorium, Mr Rabbani spoke in a comparatively mild tone, while Mr Awan seemed aggressive, calling the “unification bloc” as “a gang of Changa Manga” — a reference to a Punjab forest often cited as a place for lodging political turncoats.

President Asif Ali Zardari, currently on an official visit to Kuwait, also seemed to be keeping in touch with the country’s politics as his spokesman Farhatullah Babar issued a statement from abroad saying PPP members of the Punjab cabinet would not send their resignations and that “the politics of reconciliation will continue”. Mr Rabbani wondered how Mr Sharif could say nothing was done during the 45-day period while the head of his party’s negotiating team, Senator Ishaq Dar, had expressed his satisfaction at the progress “at the end of our marathon meetings”.

The minister cited steps taken point-by-point, including a reversal of increases in petroleum prices, reduction in the size of the federal cabinet and formation of new boards of several state-run enterprises as evidence of what he called a significant progress made on the reform agenda.

“But I feel sad on the decision taken by Nawaz Sharif because we sat with sincerity to address major problems confronting the country,” he said.

He said the nation and media could sit in judgement to decide on the seriousness and sincerity of the PPP in implementing the 10-point agenda.

“I don’t want to beat the drum of our own publicity, I leave it to you and each poor individual of this country and appoint you as judge to decide how much progress we made on these 10 points in a limited timeframe,” he said.

“The 10-point agenda is our agenda. It is our manifesto and we will continue its implementation. There should not be any ambiguity on this count,” the minister said.

“Punjab does not belong to the PML-N alone, rather all political forces are free to do politics there,” he added.

Babar Awan said now his party would act as a “senior ombudsman” in Punjab and keep a vigilant eye on the working of the provincial government. “We will also request the speaker to give us the slot of leader of the opposition in the provincial assembly.”