By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS
Islamabad : With former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s decision to take part in the Jan 8 polls, new political alliances are likely in the country.
Already, most political parties and groupings are taking on one another – over whether or not they should keep away from the elections.
Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which is most enthusiastic about the elections, now says it is ready to join hands with Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League.
She said her party was ready to collaborate with all forces other than the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q), which had backed President Pervez Musharraf in his 2001 referendum and in his election for a second term.
Bhutto is in contact with the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) of Maulana Fazlur Rehman and may ally with him.
Rehman, whose party is one of the six religious groups in the Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), has threatened to part ways as the other five constituents decide to boycott the polls.
“We will throw out the parties that boycott the polls,” Rehman told IANS, adding that his party will contest on the MMA platform.
But the other partners in MMA, including the Jamaat-e-Islami, are adamant that they will not contest under Musharraf’s presidency.
But Rehman counters this: “We cannot leave the field open for pro-American and pro-Musharraf parties. All those boycotting the polls are in fact favouring Musharraf.”
On the other hand, the 32-member All Parties Democratic Alliance (APDM), which was formed in July, has already thrown out the PML-N of Sharif and four smaller parties after they decided to fight the elections.
Now the reduced 27-member alliance has announced it will withdraw its candidates from the election race and campaign for Musharraf’s ouster.
Sharif told media persons that he was contesting the election after initially saying ‘no’ because he does not want to leave the field open for “pro-Musharraf parties”.
Moreover, his boycott would be meaningless if major parties like Bhutto’s PPP and Rehman’s JUI do not cooperate.
Sharif accused Musharraf of arresting Pakistan’s top nuclear scientist, A.Q. Khan, “while Indians made their nuclear hero (A.P.J. Abdul Kalam) the president of the country”.
“We will release (Khan) him, give him honour,” said Sharif.
Political analysts say that three or four major alliances are likely to announce seat adjustments.
The PML-Q may go with smaller parties like the National Party, the breakaway faction of PPP, Mutahidda Qaumi Movement of Altaf Hussain, Pir Pagara’s faction of PML and others.
A breakaway faction of Sharif’s party could sail with the Jamiat Ahle-Hadith and other smaller parties.
The third alliance is likely to be led by PPP and the fourth by JUI.