The ongoing political turmoil in the country stems not so much from the parties' conflicting positions, if any, on national issues as from their propensity to fish in troubled waters for some opportunity to capture power.
Yes, there is a variety of party-specific perspectives on the Reformed GST, presently a hot issue for national debate, but what has presently caused the upheaval are the acerbity of the Sindh home minister Zulfiqar Mirza's recent statement and the sacking of JUI (F)'s federal minister Azam Swati. But for these two happenings there was not much in evidence to trigger the hectic political activity that we witness on a daily basis.
One may not like to predict how this heightened politicking is going to abate, but what it's throwing up makes the entire saga an interesting chapter in our history. Consider, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, head of the PML (Q), an all-present side-kick of Musharraf's regime which is blamed for Nawab Akbar Bugti's murder, is busy wooing Maulana Fazlur Rehman to muster support to form a government in Balochistan.
Imagine, Altaf Hussain ringing up Syed Munawwar Hasan and a high-level MQM delegation paying a visit to the Jamaat-i-Islami headquarters, Mansoora. Then the MQM is visiting Pir Pagara, and the PML (N) hosts Sindh nationalist Mumtaz Bhutto. Interestingly, as all these high winds swirl around the PPP-led governments, the PPP chief, Asif Ali Zardari sits snug and largely unconcerned, making only a few formal responses. Translation: the Zardari-Gilani system doesn't feel threatened by the ongoing hectic politicking.
The Zardari-Gilani system doesn't feel threatened because the threat to its power is virtually non-existent. The opposition, the definition that stands for the PML (N) plus the PML (Q) plus the JUI (F) and MQM, if you please, is beset with mutual mistrust of each other, and there is hardly a possibility of these forces to unite and topple the PPP-led coalition governments in the Centre and three provinces.
There is no real possibility in the foreseeable future of the two main Muslim Leagues, PML (N) and PML (Q) to get together and put up a joint effort against the government. Of course both are part of the opposition on the floor of the parliament but their leaderships are extremely wary of one another. Then there is a huge dissident fringe to the Q-League that is not likely to follow the party chief Shujaat Hussain, even in Balochistan where the dissidents far outnumber his loyalists.
As for Nawaz Sharif, he may be fired with utopian ideas for Pakistani society, but the status quo should undergo change that is not his thinking, nor his game plan. Plainly said, he would like to wait for his turn, apparently convinced that a bird in hand (the Punjab government) is better than two in the bush. Will the religious parties re-unite? That again is not likely, especially when the clout the religious outfits once enjoyed as an indispensable part of national strategy has dispersed and no one is interested to see them on the front benches.
All this toing and froing between various political powerhouses is not sustainable, in that there is not much in terms of solid ground to sustain it. On the other hand, as long as it continues, it tends to breed political instability and uncertainty with its obviously deleterious effects on the national economy. As if the challenges to national security consequent to the war-like situation on our western border were not serious enough to negatively impact our economy, the ongoing political confusion is compounding the nation's woes.
We hope the political opposition will desist from prompting factors that generate feelings of instability and uncertainty in the country by winding down their activity. Given that issues like corruption, cronyism and such other ills is now being dealt with by the pro-active higher judiciary, the political opposition is not left with much to contribute to improving governance.
Even more importantly, none of the parties in the opposition is a newcomer, and how good or bad they performed when in power everybody knows. The fact is that excepting the few potential beneficiaries, who enjoy proximity to political leaderships and are commonly known as the cronies, not many are interested to buy these theatrics. The sooner it ends, the better for the people and the country.