An official of the party says they are viewing the moves as an attempt by certain quarters to divide its traditional vote-bank and rob it of its due share in the parliament.
“Certain quarters in the country are against a strong and independent political leadership that may restore balance of power in the power game,” says party’s chief spokesman Ahsan Iqbal, confirming the concerns.
He did not elaborate the elements behind the moves, saying that various interest groups do not want to see an end to blackmail of political forces and institution of a strong civilian set-up.
Referring to similar “conspiracies” in the past, he says this time the moves to clip wings of the political leadership will fail as things now have changed drastically and masses have matured.
“In the presence of an independent media and strong democratic forces, it’ll be impossible to play the old game.”
Except the PML-Functional led by Pir Sahib of Pagaro, all other factions of the League are traditionally based in Punjab and Hazara division of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and any division of vote-bank among them means win for political rivals, especially the People’s Party.
A similar situation in a Mansehra by-poll this year has ensured win of the MMA as the PML-Q stood runner-up and N faction claimed third slot.
However, Mr Iqbal terms it an isolated event having no bearing on overall mood of the masses. He says the genuine League is the one that enjoys popular vote-bank and insists that this privilege is enjoyed by the PML-N.
He does not believe that the PML-Q and other factions of the League or small right wing parties like Tehrik-i-Insaaf could share its votes in the next polls.
“People tend to be ideologue before the polls but they correct themselves with the advent of election season and become pragmatic,” he says, citing the 1993 polls results when 70 per cent of the Jamaat-i-Islami voters ‘revolted’ against the party policy and elected the PML-N candidates seeing voting for any other contestant might benefit the PPP.
A group of journalists, both from print and electronic media, recently called on Pervez Musharraf in Dubai and a couple of them offered the former president to mediate between him and the Chaudhrys of Gujrat for a larger alliance of the Leagues.
Musharraf at the meeting reportedly claimed that he’ll return home before the next polls.
When asked how he would manage to return in the wake of Akbar Bugti’s murder case and killing of dozens of male and female students in the infamous raid on Islamabad’s Lal Masjid, Musharraf, who had promulgated the defunct National Reconciliation Ordination, said he could make his comeback like Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif despite cases against them.
However, Mr Iqbal says Musharraf cannot dare return to the country. “Let him (Musharraf) first step into the country and then it will be known how much popularity he really enjoys,” he says.
He downplays the impact of the likely alliance among the Q, F, Z and Like-Minded factions as well as the All-Pakistan Muslim League, a party being fabricated by Musharraf.
According to him, the grouping will not bring about much change to the local political scene as the Q-League, the largest among the likely constituents, has now been rendered too weak to field its candidates even in the Punjab by-polls.
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