PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif announced 'parting of ways' with the PPP at a press conference on Friday, saying despite his side's consistent efforts "significant progress" has not been made on his party's 10-point reform agenda. The PPP and the PML-N, he said, will have different roles at the Centre and in Punjab, and that "we will take our programme to the people."
Even before the formal announcement of the parting, reports had indicated the talks on the reform agenda were not going well. The result therefore was not difficult to predict. The League had already started doing the groundwork to oust the PPP from the Punjab coalition government, and to replace it with Q League's breakaway faction, the so-called 'Unification Bloc.'
Differences over the implementation of the reform agenda may have proved to be the immediate cause of the break up, but the two parties are the main contenders of power, and hence sooner or later had to go their separate ways. The natural role for the Nawaz League is to act as a strong opposition at the centre and for the PPP in Punjab. This is how their rank and file would like them to act. Besides, although the general elections are a good two years away, that is not a very long time for parties to prepare. The talk of mid-term elections has also been in the air for a while. When asked, Nawaz did not rule out the possibility, but he was quick to point out that demanding early elections was neither illegal nor unconstitutional.
It is good to note that both sides have reiterated firm resolve not to repeat mistakes of the past. The threat of long march the Nawaz League had brandished recently in case the reform agenda was not implemented is now off the table. The party spokesman Ahsan Iqbal said that his party would give more time to the PPP government to adopt measures to improve the economy, and denied having any plans to launch public protest, saying that if need be the party would use legitimate democratic means of protest. Reacting to the League move at a special press conference, some PPP hotheads resorted to intemperate language, but the Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination, Raza Rabbani, gave a measured and sensible response to the situation, saying his party would play the role of a "strong opposition" in Punjab.
He averred that his side would do issue-based politics, without destabilising the system, and that "we will follow new and good traditions and avoid politics reminiscent of the 1990s." As long as the two sides act in the spirit of the Charter of Democracy, and not revert back to the politics of confrontation they pursued in the 1990s there should be no cause for concern. Hopefully, they will remain mindful also of the fact that any hint of instability could hurt the economy, already in a fragile state. KSE index fell sharply following the upping of political temperatures in Islamabad. Further ratcheting up of confrontational rhetoric can easily unnerve investors. It goes without saying, that all sides must act responsibly so as not to create any unnecessary alarm.