By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS
Islamabad : With only a week left for parliamentary elections, the two factions of Pakistan’s founding party Muslim League have intensified their campaign – by hurling accusations at each other.
The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q), also known as the Quaid-e-Azam faction, named after the country’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s national title, is a breakaway faction of the PML-Nawaz of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
After Sharif’s government was overthrown in a bloodless military coup in 1999, the PML-Q sided with President Pervez Musharraf who was then army chief and with his backing formed the government in 2002 for five years.
“Anyone voting for Nawaz Sharif will be voting for a person who fled the country leaving behind his followers,” Chaudhry Pervez Elahi of PML-Q has been saying at almost all public gatherings, hinting at Sharif’s seven years in exile.
Elahi and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, close cousins who head the party, also accuse Sharif of turning the country into a princely state by introducing laws to extend his tenure.
On the other hand, Sharif has accused the Chaudhrys of betraying him and strengthening the hands of a “dictator”. The two helped Musharraf to legitimise his rule and got him elected president for a second five-year term before he shed his army uniform in December 2007.
“They have betrayed the country and have been indulging in subverting the constitution along with Musharraf… Voting for them is voting for Musharraf, who has looted the country for eight years,” Sharif tells public rallies.
Both Sharif and the Chaudhry brothers have their power base in Punjab and are banking on support from their home province, which has 150 National Assembly seats in a house of 272 directly elected members.
While the Chaudhrys are also attacking the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Sharif is keeping himself away from criticising the PPP that has been his most bitter rival in all previous elections since 1988.
The PML-Q is also giving advertisements in print and electronic media highlighting its “achievements” in the last five years and ridiculing Sharif.
One ad shows Sharif praying at former dictator General Ziaul Haq’s grave and also at Benazir Bhutto’s grave. “Who’s mission is he following?” the ad asks.
Both Sharif and the Chaudhrys claim they will win more than 110 seats in Punjab.
Sharif and other political parties are also accusing Musharraf and the interim government of favouring the PML-Q in the elections.
“We have hundreds of proof against the PML-Q but we are not forwarding them to the Election Commission which is biased and is doing whatever favours the Q League,” PML-N information secretary Sidiqul Farooq has said.
According to political pundits, the PML-Q can bag 40-50 seats, the PPP 80-90 seats and Sharif’s PML 50-60 seats. “The rest of the seats will be won by other smaller parties,” political analyst Obaid Alvi says.
Several smaller parties like Mutahidda Qaumi Movement, Awami National Party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Balochistan National Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional are strong in their respective areas and may bag 10-15 seats.