ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is poised to come out of its prolonged hibernation and relaunch its anti-government campaign at a time when Pakistan is passing through a critical period in the wake of the Taliban takeover of Kabul.
The multi-party alliance is set to hold a series of rallies and processions, culminating in a march on the federal capital. The bottom-line demand: free, fair and transparent parliamentary polls and no repeat of what the PDM claims was done in the 2018 general elections.
Sunday’s public power show in Karachi, organized by the grouping after a protracted period of slumber and inaction, was meant to revive the PDM as an opposition coalition to be reckoned with. In recent months, it had been reduced to an entity content with merely issuing bombastic statements, lacking any practical public campaign.
At the Karachi public meeting, there was an announcement of a protest movement but no schedule or programme has been unveiled to the general public. It is believed that the PDM this time did proper homework before making this high-profile declaration which was kept as a closely guarded secret.
Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman are the main driving forces behind the decision to launch the protest campaign as they have been most agitated about the alliance becoming irrelevant over the past several months. They want the grouping to become vibrant and charged in the run up to the next general elections.
The two leaders have emerged as the real hawks within the PDM, who want solid steps to rattle and disturb the applecart of the prevailing dispensation. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) supremo’s speech to the rally through video link from London once again confirmed his credentials as a hardliner.
Those who keep hoping for signs of discord or a wedge between Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif were disappointed in Karachi when the latter kept standing out of respect throughout the address of his elder brother.
The PDM has announced the protest movement at a time when most people believe that the present government is going to complete its five-year term. The next general elections will most likely be held in 2023 because the opposition’s threat to its existence has drastically waned or vanished altogether. The PDM has failed to maintain its pressure and relevance because of its own approach, internal strife and a lack of cohesion and coordination and not due to any handiwork of the government.
A devastating blow was inflicted to the PDM by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) which PDM leaders now believe was following a line that was in direct conflict with the opposition grouping’s strategy. The PDM is yet to fully recover from the destructive jolt it had received from the PPP.
As the PDM embarks on the politics of street agitation once again, it will have to simultaneously fight on two fronts – neutralizing the PPP and putting the government under pressure. The PPP is likely to intensify its taunts about the reduced importance and weight of the alliance due to its absence from its ranks. However, if the opposition grouping follows the PML-N policy seen in the campaign for the Azad Kashmir elections, the PDM will try and not lock horns with the PPP especially during its protest movement.
The signs of discord between the PPP and the rest of the PDM components appeared during the campaign for the Gilgit-Baltistan elections. Bilawal had, though belatedly, expressed his “shock” over Nawaz Sharif’s aggressive speech to the Gujranwala public meeting, naming certain powerful figures. The PDM constituents were then left with no doubt that the PPP was on a different path and deep misgivings started taking root among its main leaders.
The PPP’s decision to go against the agreement for the nomination of the leader of the opposition in the Senate served as the last nail in the coffin of the PDM. Before that, the PPP had got the National Assembly votes of all the alliance parties, specifically the PML-N’s, for the successful election of Yousuf Raza Gilani as a senator, which was not possible without this support.
The PML-N and Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) were in no mood to tolerate this policy of the PPP and served a show cause notice to it for the violation of the accord in the election for the Senate opposition leader. This proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, leading to the parting of ways.
The opposition coalition faces an uphill task to revive its lost fortunes, which at one time immediately after it was cobbled together, looked bright and promising to its supporters and the anti-government forces. During that interlude, the PDM had become quite a menacing force for the government. In the days ahead, the PDM will have to prove that its protest is not ill-timed but is the need of the hour.
However, whatever the PDM, the government or the PPP do in the months to come, all of them now have the next parliamentary polls in mind. The alliance’s utmost desire now is that the elections are held without any manipulation.