ISLAMABAD: Expressing his surprise over the “sudden” decision of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) to continue to be a part of the ruling alliance, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and former president Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday claimed that Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi would not be able to become chief minister of Punjab.

“We will bring a change in Punjab as per our will. The PTI cannot make Pervaiz Elahi the chief minister as it does not have the numbers in the Punjab Assembly; we do,” declared a confident-looking Mr Zardari while speaking at a joint news conference which had been arranged to formally welcome an independent MNA from Balochistan, Aslam Bhootani, to the opposition’s fold.

Ex-president ‘surprised’ by PML-Q’s fickle nature; MQM-P looking for stability at the Centre

Mr Zardari said the joint opposition would soon nominate its candidate who will become the Punjab chief minister.

Responding to a question if he would make another attempt to woo the PML-Q, Mr Zardari said it was “too late, now”.

The former president said he was surprised to see the PML-Q accepting the government’s offer despite the fact that Mr Elahi was with him a night before the decision and had felicitated him.

“At midnight, they felicitated me and the next morning, they suddenly went to the other side,” said Mr Zardari, adding that the PML-Q was looking for “power” whereas they were thinking about Pakistan.

In response to a question, Mr Zardari said that he believed and hoped that the “establishment” was neutral.

Speaking on the occasion, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that he hoped the courts would not let the government rig the upcoming vote on the no-confidence resolution against the prime minister. He termed March 28 a “historic day” when the joint opposition tabled the no-confidence resolution in the National Assembly and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), a key ally of the government, announced its support to the opposition.

Welcoming Mr Bhootani to the opposition fold, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said that the representatives of Balochistan fully understood that their issues could only be resolved by the opposition parties. He said besides BAP and Mr Bhootani, Shahzain Bugti of the Jamhoori Watan Party had also announced his support for the opposition’s no-confidence resolution.

Replying to a question about the party’s parleys with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), the PPP chairman said Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and the Sindh cabinet members were conducting dialogues with the MQM-P, adding: “Insha Allah, a good news is expected.”

“As far as the MQM is concerned, there is not a single demand of theirs that we did not agree to. The PPP has decided to find mutual ground with the MQM and form a long-term working relationship for the sake of Karachi and Pakistan,” he added.

For its part, the MQM-P believes that the country needs a new government at the earliest, and it does not want to take a decision that may antagonise the establishment.

“[The government] proved to be incompetent. We need a PML-N govt without friction with Pindi as soon as possible,” said a senior MQM-P leader. “But Imran Khan’s ouster and stopgap government then interim government then elections will be a recipe for disaster and bring more instability.”

When asked as to why it hasn’t taken any decision despite having offers from both the government and opposition, he replied: “[We are] working on different ideas with all parties at the moment.”

“No,” was his answer when asked whether the establishment had made its tilt clear to the MQM-P.

At the Tuesday presser, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said the speaker now could not even think of doing something unconstitutional. The united opposition, he said, had all the numbers and more than they needed to defeat Imran Khan.

“This is Imran’s last week. No matter what threat he hurls, the united opposition will succeed. The ministers and bureaucracy should realise that it’s their last week too,” he added.

PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq and BNP-M chief Akhtar Mengal were also present in the news conference.

Afterwards, Mr Bhutto-Zardari left for the residence of PML-N president and opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif for a meeting of the joint opposition to discuss the future strategy for the upcoming National Assembly session as well as the situation emerging in Punjab after submission of the resignation by Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

Azfar-ul-Ashfaque in Karachi also contributed to this report.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2022