The opposition returns?

The PPP and PML-N seem to have decided they need to up the optics game as joint opposition. After a long break, and some back and forth of jibes within the opposition parties, the PPP and the PML-N have agreed to launch a no-confidence movement against the coalition government led by the PTI – and ‘use all constitutional, legal and political ways to get rid of the government’. This sudden boost of confidence in each other came at a lunch hosted on Saturday, February 5 by the PML-N’s Shahbaz Sharif and attended by former president Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chair Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Also in attendance was Maryam Nawaz. Perhaps the meeting came as a result of the realisation on the part of both parties that the opposition must at least be seen to be doing what political oppositions do. Or perhaps they have finally understood that the economy is what really moves the people, and this may be the right time to strike a government seen as having been weakened by the recent economic chaos in the country. Whatever the reasons, or the results, the small little power show has managed to bring some life back in an opposition that till recently was focused more on targeting each other than the sitting government.

While Saturday’s meeting was non-PDM – and hence without the Maulana – there is a sense that the opposition is at least trying to build some broken bridges within. Given that matters such as Senate voting in the SBP bill as well as accusations against each other of brokering the much-sought-after ‘deal’ with the establishment have led to apathy among the people towards anything claimed by the opposition, this may be the first step towards building a more credible alliance – even if for the short term.

However, other than saying they are looking to dislodge a ‘selected’ government, and that a no-confidence motion is not off the table now even for the PML-N, everything else still seems to be up in the air. There are many questions, none of which have been answered yet. For instance, if there is a no-confidence move, and if Imran Khan loses the vote, will the opposition be looking at an early election option? Are the PPP and the PML-N agreed on any strategy regarding this? Or will they be looking for an ‘in-house’ change and then elections later on? Will the matter of the ‘extension’ play a part in their calculations? And what about the Nawaz factor? Is the PML-N looking to find a way to get his and Maryam Nawaz’s cases resolved? Have the so-called rifts within the PML-N been finally put to rest, considering the fact that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi criticised the PPP just a day after the meeting? Some feel that even if nothing were to happen with a no-confidence motion the government would already be on the backfoot come elections. And, while long marches do not – and should not – dislodge governments, the opposition mustering enough street power to protest the rising inflation and the government’s ineptitude at a time when every party is looking to the next elections, would definitely place a lot more pressure on the government. That said, political analysts do warn that nothing is certain, despite the meeting, and the situation seems fluid enough. With all three major parties said to be vying for the same blue-eyed position, it may just be a matter of who blinks first.