The CM Punjab has turned down an invitation to dinner from the PM. Mr Nawaz Sharif says he did so because “the political atmosphere in the country was not conducive for such a meeting”. IJI sources have elaborated further: “It did not seem appropriate for a dinner invitation to be accepted from the head of a party which was trying to destabilise the Punjab government.”
We agree that the political atmosphere in the country is far from being benign, that it may, indeed, be poisonous. However, it follows logically that every opportunity ought to be grasped to clear the smog. But Mr Sharif has chosen instead to make matters worse. By refusing to talk to Ms Bhutto, he has indicated that he is not interested in resolving differences with the federal government.
The argument that the IJI will not talk to the PPP because the PPP is trying to destabilise the government in the Punjab does not wash either. The IJI is, in fact, trying desperately to overthrow the PPP government in the NWFP. It is clearly a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Mr Sharif looks increasingly intransigent. This attitude has fuelled speculation that he is not interested in ‘co-existing’ with the government in Islamabad and that he would be only too happy to welcome martial law again in the country. Because Mr Sharif was so closely associated with the regime of Gen Zia ul Haq, and because his party still considers the dictator to be its mentor, there may indeed be solid grounds for believing that there is no love lost between Mr Sharif and the democratic urge in Pakistan.
This attitude should be roundly condemned because another bout of martial law will probably sound the death-knell for Pakistan. That said, the PPP too needs reminding of which way the wind is blowing.
Relations between the PPP and Akbar Bugti’s government in Balochistan have deteriorated to the point when the Baloch are egging President Ghulam Ishaq on to intervene and resolve matters quickly. The situation in Sindh continues to worsen; the accord between the MQM and the PPP still looks thin and is under constant pressure, with the MQM also lending its voice to the clamour for Presidential intervention. In the NWFP, the PPP is besieged and in danger of sudden death.
If this situation continues, the siege of the PPP will be extended to breaking-point. Surely, that is the last thing Ms Bhutto would want to confront. Because she has the most to lose, and her opponents the most to gain, from continuing the confrontations in the provinces, it is for her to initiate sound policy measures to neutralise the opposition and get on with the job of steering a course of grand diplomacy, compromise and consensus.