Pakistan after the February 2008 elections is seeing a new rapprochement although it is in the very early stages. The political elements, the people, the media commentators, the analysts, all seem to be very pleased at this new rapprochement and are on record for welcoming it.

But, even at the peril of being accused of trying to find a fly in the ointment, let us examine if this rapprochement is good for democracy or it is indeed democracy?

The new rapprochement is between the Peoples Party and the Nawaz Muslim League. The rapprochement has been so widely welcomed because it has come after each party has had two stints in government and after both had been ousted twice from Government. It has been also welcomed because it has come after a lot of acrimony and slandering and institution of cases against each other. The new air of camaraderie comes after the two parties had been out in the political wilderness for about ten years after 1997, the year in which General Pervez Musharraf was handed over power by the army.

But most importantly the rapprochement has come after the leaders of both parties apologized for the mistakes they made while in government. The rapprochement has come only after President [General] Musharraf issued a reconciliation ordinance which grants amnesty to political leaders from politically motivated cases or cases which could not be proven in courts for long.

While the collective weight of the above mentioned causes is considerable, it must be borne in mind that this rapprochement has been in effect forced by the split mandate given by the people of Pakistan in the February 2008 national elections in which the PPP and the PML-N emerged as the biggest parties but none of them had enough mandate to form the government on its own!

So the PPP which emerged as the party with the largest number of seats went into a coalition with the next biggest party, the PML-N in order to bring about a coalition big enough to form the government at the Centre.

Though this coalition is being widely welcomed by all and sundry, it is thought that by some that this coalition is unnatural for many reasons and is bound to fall apart sooner or later.

The first and foremost reason for this alliance being unnatural is that both parties have a different agenda. Besides, it is a fact of life that sooner or later the two parties are going to contest election against each other! This is not a sowing of seeds of discord but acknowledging a reality which at this stage may seem to be in bad taste.

Therefore, the ideal thing would be for the largest party, the PPP, to form a coalition with other smaller parties in the country and for the PML-N to sit on opposition benches. This would be real national reconciliation and democratic with the PML-N playing the role of a very democratic and positive opposition.

But that was not to be and now we see that differences between the PPP and the PML-N have already started to crop up even while the new government has not come in?

The first instance is that despite the passage of one month the PPP which will be the main party in the ruling coalition has not been able to nominate its candidate as Prime Minister.

It is not that the Peoples Party is not able to nominate its prime ministerial candidate for when its co-chairman Asif Zardari was taking over the party leadership to fulfill the late Benazir’s will, he said that Makhdoom Amin Fahim would be the party’s candidate as the prime minister!

The current indecision in this respect is not comprehensible. However, it is said that the major coalition partner the PML-N is not agreeable to Amin Fahim’s candidature and would prefer some other candidate. Although at this stage things are under wraps, analysts with dispassionate analysis can see the beginning of the discord.

The second hurdle is going to be met by the PPP when the deposed judges, despite all the rhetoric at present, cannot be restored even after the expiry of one month or 30 days.

The right thing for the PPP would be to seek out coalitionists who are staunchly on board against terrorism and who stand not for confrontationist issue but are in favor of gradual transition to democracy.

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