Almost two weeks after the general elections in Pakistan, the clouds of political uncertainty are finally ending.
Asif Ali Zardari’s party PPP and Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N have joined hands to form the government. The deal between the two has been finalized.
This was revealed by Shahbaz and Bilawal themselves in a joint press conference late on Tuesday night. Both the parties are calling their expected coalition government as PDM-2.
However, even before the formation of the government, questions are being raised in the country whether this government will move forward successfully. In the new formula of government, Shahbaz Sharif will be the PM and Asif Ali Zardari will be the President.
In this deal between Nawaz Sharif and Bilawal, Bilawal has taken more advantage. Even though Shahbaz will have the throne of PM, he will be forced to face Bilawal. How, let’s know
Talking about PPP and PML-N in Pakistan, 16 political parties of PDM had toppled the government of former PM Imran Khan in 2022 and formed the government under the leadership of Shahbaz. However, at that time the relations between PPP and Nawaz’s party were not so cordial.
This is the reason why both the parties attacked each other fiercely in the elections and now after the election results are out, when no party has the majority, they have again stood with each other. Critics say that PDM-1 was one of the most unpopular governments in the political history of Pakistan.
What was the deal between Nawaz and Bilawal
After the results of the 8 February general elections, Nawaz’s party had started showing interest in forming a coalition government, but the PPP was reluctant in this effort.
However, after several rounds of talks, both the parties announced on Tuesday night that Muslim League and People’s Party will form the next government in the country and under the new government alliance, Shahbaz Sharif will be the Prime Minister and Asif Ali Zardari will be the President.
BBC Urdu reports that both the parties have agreed that the Speaker of the National Assembly will be from the Muslim League-N while the Deputy Speaker will be from the People’s Party, while the seat of the Chairman of the Upper House, i.e. the Senate, will be from the People’s Party. The post of Vice President will be elected by the League of Nations.
Under the new government formula, the governors of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab will be from the People’s Party, while the governors of Balochistan and Sindh will be from Nawaz’s party. Pakistan People’s Party believes that the new government coalition will be better than the previous government.
How did Bilawal play?
Formally speaking, PPP has accepted the post of President and Shahbaz has got the post of PM. But, if seen from the political perspective, the post of President is also no less important.
After making Asif Ali Zardari the President, ‘manipulative politics’ will once again come to the fore which can give a blow to Shahbaz not only to Nawaz’s party but also to the ruling establishment.
Talking more about this, journalist and analyst Nusrat Javed said that ‘Till now the post of President was considered symbolic, but all the crises that have occurred since April 2022 have proved that if the President wants, he can create a crisis. Can and can also end the crisis.
Giving an example, he said that if the President wishes, he can suddenly pick up the file and advise the Prime Minister as to who will be the next Army Chief? The whole world knows that it only needs the signature of the President and he can maintain relations with the establishment politically if he wants. This post has been made important by the current President Arif Alvi.”
Regarding the recent alliance, he said that ‘Shahbaz Sharif and Asif Zardari are mature politicians and both need each other at this time.’