Desperate politicians playing hackneyed game again

ISLAMABAD: An old hackneyed idea - unification of Muslim Leagues-, which keeps surfacing from time to time, is being rejuvenated with Gen (R) Pervez Musharraf playing an active role for their amalgamation.
The primary target is to whittle down the power and force of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) by including some of its estranged elements, who have openly projected their ire and reservations against the top party leadership.
Their campaign has experienced ups and downs over the past few months. For some time, they have kept their activities away from the public.
If the move of blending the parties meets with success, the unified League may be able to win a few federal and provincial seats in the future general elections not with the force of its popularity but because of the sway that some individuals, becoming part of it, enjoy in their home constituencies.
Even faced with heavy odds, they have been winning in successive polls.
The Chaudhrys of Gujrat’s PML-Q, Pir Pagara’s Functional League, Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), Sheikh Rashid Ahmed’s Awami Muslim League (AML), estranged PML-N leaders like Senator Sardar Zulfikar Khosa, Ghous Ali Shah and some others, Hamid Nasir Chattha’s League and the Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim group of Sindh are going to be part of the combined party.
Most of these parties received severe battering in the last parliamentary polls at the hands of different political parties in various regions. Zulfikar Khosa’s case is different from other figures, who will be joining the new force. He was elected as senator on the PML-N ticket for six years to continue till 2018. If he defects, he will face disqualification.
This will stop him from switching loyalty. Despite his anger, he recently voted for the government-sponsored amendments in the Constitution and the Pakistan Army Act in the Senate.
For more than once, Musharraf has advocated unification of the Leagues. “A new ‘meal’, which is yet to be given a name, is being cooked, and no hotchpotch is being prepared during the meetings Musharraf is holding,” PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has stated, confirming that a new political force is about to appear on the horizon.
After the sidelining of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) after it ended its sit-in, the PML-Q is again in the wilderness and has been in search of allies to make its presence felt in the political arena. Its top leaders may get a good place in the new force.
In a deeply split parliament, a tiny force, which is able to clinch a few seats in an election, can secure an extraordinary significance.
The new League aims at such an eventuality, a repeat of Manzoor Wattoo’s episode when he snatched the office of the chief minister of Punjab despite having less than a dozen lawmakers with the majority Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) having been left in the lurch.
Despite setbacks since his return to Pakistan from abroad shortly before the May 2013 general elections, Musharraf has not changed his mind about his political ambition that he is poised to realise come what may. He still believes that he has the ‘charisma’ to get the popular vote in any parliamentary polls more than any other political party.
He is of the firm view that bigger parties stand thoroughly discredited, which makes space for a force under his stewardship.
For quite some time, the top leaders of all the Leagues, which are being merged to spawn a new entity, have been engaged in hectic consultations to finalise its shape.
Regardless of the outcome of the present talks for union of the miniature parties, the idea of merging the Leagues to create a big force has been bandied about for over half a dozen times in the past two decades and a half. Whenever it materialised, the product turned out to be inconsequential as it could not make any major achievement. Ultimately, the merged parties fell apart, assuming their separate old identities.
Such a move is always meant to nibble at the vote-bank of the League, which happens to be popular, having the capacity to bag a large number of national and provincial seats.
Now, the focus of attack is the PML-N, which is opposed to most of the parties, seeking merger.
The amalgamation is basically meant to prepare for the next electoral contest. Among these parties, Pagara’s league and the Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim group will certainly have a considerable say in the specific area of Sindh if the previous elections are any guide. The PML-Q has dismal prospects. Musharraf thinks very high of himself but has little chances of any major win.