The secrets of the meeting

The meeting between President Asif Zardari and PML-N Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif was an unfamiliar sight, an indication of how far Pakistani politics is from the politics of the coalition. In essence, what was just another routine meeting between the heads of two parties in alliance with each other, was converted into a major political occasion, and the outcome, which should not really have been all that much, was rated a disappointment. However, that disappointment was expected, as the media build-up to the event had downplayed expectations of a breakthrough. This was realistic, as there was no major breakthrough, but the meeting did serve to highlight the various issues keeping apart the two parties, which maybe presently in alliance, but which expect the other to be its main rival in the next election, due in about three years. The major reason for this is that the country is more used to one party governing in the centre and the provinces, rather than the present arrangement, where there are coalitions, only two led by the major party in the centre, in all provinces. Apart from the need of the president for a majority at the centre, the central government has been a sort of dumping ground for all the parties which are more needed to form governments in the provinces. Because the PML-N pulled out of the centre over the lawyers’ movement, it has ended up showing that a party may still remain part of the ruling alliance without being in the central government. The PPP’s need to be in office has forced it to remain in the Punjab coalition, thereby illustrating a new form of coalition, whereby the concept of a ‘loyal opposition’ is diluted almost to nothing, or brought within reasonable limits, as argued by those who support the recent process.
That this is the case is illustrated by the present dispensation, where the PML-N chief met the PPP chief, not as a one-off, but as part of a series of meetings, the last of which occurred as recently as July. Though technically the PML-N is in the opposition in the centre, as illustrated by its holding the Leadership of the Opposition, it is part enough of government for it to hold out the assurance that it will not be part of any move to destabilise the present government. This was needed because of past history, where the military has taken over four times, and is possibly going to take over again. However, apart from the military, there is also the tacit understanding that the two mainstream parties between them monopolise political power. Actually they do not, because various parties enjoy political power at the provincial level, which translates into being part of the coalition at the centre. But the two parties headed by Mian Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari together do monopolise power in the sense that they provide alternately the governments of the country.