Two days after the general elections in Pakistan, I sat watching a debate between senior leaders of the PTI, the MQM and the PML-N regarding rigging in elections. The most amazing part of the conversation was the suggestion by the PTI leader that perhaps, intelligence agency wallahs were stuffing ballot boxes at a polling station from where a PML-N candidate won. The same leader also talked about an opinion piece suggesting that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was bribed to ensure a certain win. The other day, I heard a ‘so-called’ journalist talking in a television programme, of foreign countries like Turkey being involved in ensuring certain election results in Pakistan. Notwithstanding some genuine complaints of rigging, the conversation and suggestion reflected a desire to delegitimise the larger election process, which did not bring about results that a certain segment of the population desired. While it is necessary to sort out the urgent issues regarding glaring discrepancies in results and measures to strengthen the ECP, it is also necessary for the post-May 11 Pakistan to find closure. Instead of constantly delegitimising the process, it is necessary to accept the fact that a large part of Pakistan that voted differently from how certain people thought they would, also represents the country. Its opinion ought to be respected as well.

There is a great risk of a segment of the population that was enthralled by the idea of Naya Pakistan getting depoliticised out of frustration. Like others, I have also heard conversations in which the Naya Pakistan wallahs were going around cursing people’s decision, calling them stupid and even suggesting that participating in elections was an effort not worth their while. Some even went to the extent of calling people paindu (rural) and illiterate. Besides a lot of institution-building and strengthening that is required, Imran Khan must nurse the wounds of his supporters at the earliest and draw their attention towards the fact that it is a great achievement that the PTI has risen from being a party of one in parliament to over 30 members. Moreover, unfavourable results do not mean that we stop emotionally and physically investing in this country. People’s choices must be respected. This nursing of the wounds is part of the larger process of making efforts to bind the country together.

The other interesting trend pertains to the image of regionalisation of politics. To an outside observer, Pakistan does not feel tied together. The PML-N has emerged as a big force in Punjab, the PTI in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the PPP relegated to rural Sindh, the MQM in urban Sindh and Baloch and Pashtun nationalists in Balochistan. A lot of people are hugely angry on the PPP’s lacklustre performance of the past five years. So, one could argue that it got what it deserved. Notwithstanding the errors made by its leadership and erosion of ideology from the party, the fact remains that we are observing the breakdown of what was once the only genuine national party. The federation needs to be connected, which it is not at the moment. The PPP’s weakening as a party within Sindh itself will have repercussions for sociopolitical development in the region and its connection with the federation. The crippling of the party, for which the leadership is to blame as well, has and will create spaces which will be dominated by pro-establishment parties or the nationalists. In both cases, it does not bode well for the province or the federation. It is necessary to appease the disgruntled youth in Sindh who may be tempted to fight against the state, especially in reaction to the use of force by it. The number of missing people and dead bodies is increasing in the province.

The above narrative means that party or parties have to move rapidly to shun their character of being regional entities and reach out to other regions. In the past five years, the PML-N leadership has shied from visiting other provinces. At least, this is a complaint one heard from urban and rural Sindh. The PML-N winning seats in the Balochistan Assembly is a good sign. It now needs to do more to expand in other parts. Shedding the image of a Punjab-based leadership and party is necessary. The development agenda also has to extend beyond a single province.

As part of the effort to strengthen the federation, the ruling party at the centre will also have to look more carefully to the needs of south Punjab, which seems to have given a huge mandate to the party. As a region known for both poverty and popularity of the PPP, some were surprised to see the PML-N sweep elections there. This happened due to a combination of factors, such as the party aligning with emerging power centres in the region, especially those representing new capital. In some cases, it also partnered with electables from amongst the Seraiki-speakers, who were already disgruntled due to the PPP not properly marketing the idea of a new province of south Punjab and Bahawalpur. An ordinary voter was left with pragmatism to support a party that might win and deliver. But the more important thing is that the people have honoured the PML-N by putting their confidence in it. The best way of consolidating such gains is to not ignore the need for a new province and offering a plan for better distribution of resources even within Punjab. The PML-N has done well in improving Lahore but now it also needs to distribute development to other parts of the country and the province itself.

While the list of things that the new government ought to do is endless, the need for strengthening the federation should be one of the primary goals. Accepting the legitimacy of the electioneering process and legitimising political and development agendas through meeting people’s needs will go a long way.http://tribune.com.pk/story/549648/the-day-after-may-11/

THE campaigning in the run-up to Saturday and the voting on election day were generally orderly but allegations of rigging were aplenty as the results poured in.

To an extent, the complaints may be due to the misplaced confidence of the defeated party but the clamour is loud enough to call for an impartial inquiry. The admirers of retired Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim — this writer being one of them — must feel quite hurt that such widespread charges should have arisen with a man of his reputation as the chief election commissioner.

He and his colleagues on the commission — all retired judges — were chosen by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, and approved by a parliamentary committee in which the treasury and opposition were both represented. There could hardly have been any other safeguard to ensure the non-partisan character of the commission.

Yet rigging could have taken place, and has perhaps, and the five ageing, retired judges could do little to prevent the tampering with the ballot at thousands of polling stations across the country. They could not have done much. The confidence reposed by the politicians and the people in the commission to organise fair and transparent polls was wholly misplaced.

The undeniable reality is that polls are conducted and supervised by a hierarchy of executive officials ranging from teachers and constables to the chief secretary and the inspector general of the police. In no way do these officials feel answerable to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) which has seldom detected or punished an official for defying its rules. It has not the means to do it.

Reshuffling the officials at the top or even in the middle tier on the eve of elections hardly makes any difference to the polls being fair, because the integrity or political neutrality of officials is hardly a criterion in the reshuffle.

It is just replacing one with another. Woefully, the standards both of personal ethics and commitment to a code of conduct among the officials have been steadily declining because the principle of merit has been progressively abandoned in their recruitment, placement and promotion.

That process, started by Ayub Khan in an innocuous manner, has now become a rule. But it is a tribute to the late field marshal and the values of his time that the young subalterns then inducted in the superior civil service were judged by the army’s own rigorous criteria.

Most of them did credit to the service rather than detract from the standards set by the competitors. Nevertheless, a breach was caused which in the course of time has blurred the line between the independence of the civil servants and their indebtedness to elements outside their ranks — whether politicians or generals.

The point to be emphasised here is that while the ECP must necessarily be independent and meritorious, more crucial to fair elections is the neutrality of the civil service — the police and paramilitary forces included.

It took decades for civil servants, as a national entity, to lose their neutrality but, given the political will, it can still be restored in a much shorter time if parliament and the provincial assemblies agree to amend the Constitution to provide that all inductions in public service at the senior level, say, grade 16 and above, will be through an open competitive system with no room for nomination. For the backward classes and areas some legitimate concessions can be built into the system itself.

Historically, a tragic misfortune is attached to fair elections in Pakistan. The eastern wing of the country broke away in 1971 when the military junta, supported by some impatient politicians of West Pakistan, refused to convene parliament as East Pakistan was expected to claim the prime ministerial post and also vote for autonomy that was greater than the generals and politicians alike were prepared to concede.

The result of the 1970 elections, indeed, took the country by surprise but the tragedy that followed could have been averted in the course of time only through another equally fair election.

This writer was the district magistrate of Karachi at that fateful time. The then chief election commissioner, Justice Abdus Sattar who hailed from East Pakistan, came to Karachi but once. Gen Rakhman Gul was the governor and S. Manzur Elahi chief secretary — both cool-headed, honest men. Against them and the officials down the line there was not even the whiff of a complaint. That was the last glow of fair elections in Pakistan. The surviving half of the country has not seen the likes of them again.

Incidentally, one fails to see the need for caretaker cabinets during the election period when no policy decisions are to be made. Amusingly, while Punjab was content with seven ministers, Sindh chose to appoint 20. Even if they did not, or could not, influence the polls much, they burdened the exchequer with a wholly avoidable expense.

http://dawn.com/2013/05/16/the-ecp-and-rigged-elections/

The most positive development has been the people’s reiteration of their faith in representative rule. They defied the death squads as well as the preachers of theocracy and thronged to the polling stations in larger numbers than they had done for four decades. The call of democracy was answered in both rural and urban areas and no class chose to stay out of the electoral process. There was a good crop of new faces, including many women. All this augurs well for Pakistan’s polity.

However, the joy of a popular election has been diminished to some extent by the failure of many candidates to respect the electorate’s choices. That results were manipulated at as many as 100 polling stations raises serious doubts about the fairness of the poll.

Those who were determined to win regardless of means were helped by the absence/weakness of their rivals and the connivance of police/polling staff over whom neither the caretaker regimes nor the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) exercised due control.

While every effort must be made by the ECP to deal with all complaints of irregularities in accordance with the law and as expeditiously as possible, it is doubtful if the balance of power in the national and provincial assemblies will be affected.

This is unlikely to soothe the emotions of the aggrieved parties but if the present experience can strengthen the foundations of a democratic culture some good may still come out of the present controversy.

Much has been said about the significant contribution made by the youth in this year’s election. But the youth has played an important role in all critical elections. The students formed the Muslim League’s vanguard in the historic elections of 1945 and 1946 and so did the students of East Bengal, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the elections in their areas up to 1970.

In Punjab the PPP owed its victory in 1970 largely to the young men who voluntarily shouldered the electoral responsibilities on behalf of quite a few absentee candidates.

While the young activists in past elections belonged to the disadvantaged sections of society the youth that gained prominence in this year’s election came from a somewhat affluent class and often claimed superiority over their counterparts from the countryside.

This group included a good number of young women which could only be welcomed. If the political parties can retain the services of these young cadres and improve their capacity for legwork it will be a most rewarding investment in democratic politics.

Unfortunately, hopes that the election would lead to stability in Balochistan have not been realised. Polling in the Pakhtun belt and in Quetta seems to have been peaceful and relatively orderly, with a handsome turnout, but it was extremely sketchy in the Baloch areas.

If no polling was possible at a large number of polling stations, the government, security agencies and ECP are jointly responsible for disappointing the electorate and the consequences. The exclusion of a large Baloch population from the electoral process will only add to its frustration and make the task of the new government harder.

While it is too early to discuss the challenges the new federal and provincial governments will face, except for pointing out that the crises the state faces will not yield to flights of fancy or to management tricks tried in the past, it is only fair to take stock of the parties that have lost. Since the absence of properly organised political parties has been one of the principal causes of democracy’s travails in this country, the eclipse of three political parties in a single election is no ordinary matter.

The defeat the PPP suffered on Saturday is not the worst in its history. It had done worse in 1997 when it won only 18 National Assembly seats, all of them from Sindh, and in the Punjab Assembly it had only three seats. Nevertheless, the fall of this party will have a significant bearing on the course of events in the immediate future.

The reasons for its downfall are known and also evident is the possibility of fresh desertions from its ranks. Its future will depend upon a thorough purge of its inept custodians and patient reconstruction of the party structure under fresh, untainted leaders.

A greater debacle than the PPP’s has been suffered by the Awami National Party. The militants no doubt made it almost impossible for it to campaign but external threats alone cannot explain its worst drubbing ever. Its strength lay in Bacha Khan’s legacy of courage in the face of danger and integrity in both public and private lives and it abandoned both. It can be revived only by political workers who are not only incorruptible but are also capable of thinking of new solutions to the diverse ills the party is suffering from.

The party that may fail to rehabilitate itself altogether is the PML-Q. Created solely for providing soldiers for retired Gen Musharraf, the party has become an anachronism. Quite a few of its followers had joined their mother party (the PML-N) and many others took refuge in the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) tent. One does not know how long this party can survive on the strength of its position in the Senate alone.

The one important thing the plight of some of the older parties and the rise of new ones establishes is that all this would have happened much earlier if the military dictators had not put the clock back four times in as many decades.

The moral of the story is that political parties will not fail to overcome their shortcomings if the political process is allowed to continue and all those who have flourished by demonising politicians and politics can find cleaner means to earn their keep.

http://dawn.com/2013/05/16/more-sweet-than-sour/

The ANP came under attack 31 times during the elections campaign. It got people’s sympathy but apparently not their vote. The Pashtun nationalist party was routed in its home province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The anatomy of this defeat is both complex and tragic. It would never be easy to broach the subject that a party that lost so many lives could lose the elections so decisively. But the issue has to be addressed. The ANP has prevailed in many electoral — and constitutional — battles and has lost some too. By no means is the close of this chapter in the party’s history the end of the long and illustrious tale of the Pashtun nationalist movement, of which the ANP remains the torchbearer. However, for the recovery of the party, and the morale of its cadres and leaders, an honest, swift and across the board introspection is imperative. Her recent swipe notwithstanding, a return to Begum Nasim Wali Khan’s disastrous mismanagement of the party is not an option.

Perhaps the most cogent and frank analysis of the debacle came from the veteran ANP leader Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour within hours of his loss to Imran Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). In his most gracious concession remarks, Haji Bilour congratulated Mr Khan and said: “People are not satisfied with the politicians in power and they want change…They have rejected us and expressed confidence in the PTI…People were not happy with the leadership and wanted change and I think what has happened was correct. Now it is up to us to think why people have rejected us.” He also said that the vote difference was such that he did not think that (outright) rigging could be blamed for the outcome. Many ANP workers, leaders and voters instantly identify three causes of their colossal electoral loss. Firstly, the party’s performance and governance, secondly, being literally unable to campaign at all due to the relentless terrorist attacks and thirdly, the Pakistani security establishment playing its usual role in cornering the secular-liberal forces. The ANP workers feel what is termed gham-o-ghussa in Urdu, i.e. dejection and anger: the sadness, obviously at the defeat, and the wrath directed primarily at the leadership and then at the establishment and its proxies.

The ANP’s Central Consultative Committee met in Islamabad under the party president Mr Asfandyar Wali Khan earlier in the week and magnanimously accepted the election results despite what was tantamount to pre-polls rigging through brute terror and reports of election-day manipulation. However, the candour needed for an honest reflection seems missing. To start off, the meeting venue could have been chosen more prudently. A common refrain against the central leadership has been their inaccessibility to not just the workers but also to, at least some, senior leaders. One cannot be insensitive to the security concerns but it seems difficult to fathom why a spot could not be secured in Charsadda or Peshawar where an overwhelming number of the party meetings have been held historically.

The party president’s departure to Islamabad after a suicide attack on him a few years ago and the subsequent video loop of his airlift played ad nauseum by the media had not gone down well with the workers. The leaders, on the other hand, have lamented that they could not reach Mr Khan by phone and had to take an appointment to see him. His father, the late Khan Abdul Wali Khan’s ready availability at his then telephone number 555 in Charsadda and an open-door policy even for the party-affiliated students was in sharp contrast to Mr Khan’s cocooned approach. To his credit he did try to make amends via electronic media in the last few weeks of the election campaign but one cannot play catch up so close to the elections. And even in this cramming his narrative was rather fuzzy, with jibes both at the Taliban and the United States. Talk of the talks — and fight — without a clear plan for either, did little to bolster the resolve of a rattled populace.

Perhaps being cut off from the people in general and the party workers in particular can result in the leadership making serious political miscalculations including inaccurately reading or being unaware of the extremely damaging public perceptions of the alleged misappropriations and misgovernance by the party’s officials or those around them, erroneous reading of the security establishment’s designs and outright misjudging the mood on the street. In the presence of stalwarts like the late Bashir Bilour and Mian Iftikhar Hussain in the 2008 Assembly, it perhaps was not the best idea to have chosen an inexperienced Mr Amir Haider Hoti, whose primary qualification at the time was his relationship to the party chief. And it would be a patently bad idea to not hold the outgoing provincial chief executive — and his close circle — answerable for the party’s disastrous performance in the elections. The establishment indeed does tamper with the mandate and manipulate the perceptions but it cannot do so quite that blatantly today without at least some weaknesses on the part of the ANP. Also when one plays ball with the establishment, it gets to change the rules and shift goalposts midgame.

Khan Abdul Wali Khan had quit his position as the party chief after the election was stolen from him in 1990. The great man never returned to electoral politics. Asfandyar Wali Khan has several years of politics ahead of him and it would be unfair to ask the same of him. His father had set the bar very high but the least Mr Khan can do is to resign his party position and pave the way for a robust and fearless accountability. However, a stage-managed resignation like 2002 would not suffice. The buck, after all, stops with the party president.http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013\05\16\story_16-5-2013_pg3_2

ISLAMABAD: The smaller provinces are likely to clinch the top elected offices of the President of Pakistan and Speaker of the National Assembly with the position of the prime minister obviously going to Punjab.

“Since this time we are more conscious about attaching more importance to the smaller provinces, we will take in the cabinet our confidants from these regions in greater numbers to involve them at the federal level,” a senior PML-N leader told The News.

Over the past five years, Nawaz Sharif made it a point to stand with Balochi and Sindhi nationalists as well as other parties from these areas and also made electoral alliances with them. In exchange, they are also very favourable and sympathetic towards the PML-N.

The PML-N leader said although nothing was yet final about the composition of the next cabinet, yet some figures like Senator Ishaq Dar are apparent choices to be inducted in it.

In Balochistan, the PML-N has no option but to have Lt Gen (R) Abdul Qadir Baloch in the federal cabinet as he is its only member elected to the National Assembly (MNA) from Balochistan. He may be a potential contender for the slot of the speaker.

Same is the case in Sindh where the PML-N has got a lone MNA (Abdul Hakeem Baloch).While it has just a couple of MNAs from Sindh and Balochistan, it has no senator from these provinces at all. It has a solitary senator from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (Nisar Mohammad) while four of its nominees, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Sardar Yusuf, Capt (R) Mohammad Safdar and Ibadullah, were elected as MNAs from this province.

The extreme deficiency of its own MPs from the smaller provinces especially Sindh and Balochistan, faced by the present majority party in the cabinet formation, will be met by it by opting for the elected representatives of its coalition partners, which have MNAs and senators from these regions. The PML-N may also meet the deficit of MPs from Sindh and Balochistan by inducting advisors in the cabinet.

Not only in the National Assembly but also in the Senate the PML-N has a large representation from Punjab. It has 14 senators from this province. Since it had no representation in the previous Sindh and Balochistan assemblies for five years, it could not get even a single seat from there.

The PML-N leader said although his party has attained a clear majority single-handed with the induction of the independents, it would solidify its coalition all its allies including Pir Pagara’s PML-Functional, Mehmood Achakzai’s Pushtoonkhwa Awami Milli Party, Jatois’ National Party, Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s Jamiat Ulemae Islam (JUI) and Baloch nationalist parties.

By taking all of them along, Nawaz Sharif will have more than 200 members of the MNAs behind his back when he will be elected to the office, he said and added that the prime minister’s clear majority would free him from blackmailing by any of his partners.

“Seeing that the PML-N has got an impressive tally in Saturday’s general elections, several independents were even desperate to associate themselves with it immediately after the electoral outcome. None was inclined to displease this party,” the source said.

It is believed that the PML-N allies will get over 20 % share in the federal cabinet, which will be lean and efficient and whose members will not be just allowed to enjoy the perks and privileges, attached to the office, without doing anything.

Nawaz Sharif has a long history of presiding over larger cabinets at the federal and provincial levels, but this time he is going to shun his past, and will have a small cabinet, accommodating all of his allies. Many from his own party would be then disappointed.

Even the 18th Constitutional Amendment (Article 92) allows a big cabinet by having a maximum of 50 ministers. The provision says that total strength of the cabinet, including ministers of state, will not exceed 11 % of the total membership (446 including 342 MNAs and 104 senators) of Parliament.

This amendment was to come in force after the May 11 general elections. Additionally, the President may, on the advice of the Prime Minister, appoint not more than five advisers, on such terms and conditions as he may determine. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-177783-Top-office-of-president-speaker-to-go-to-smaller-provinces

Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday, Raza Rabbani said PPP had accepted the results of the elections with reservations as the party was singled out by Taliban due to its ideology of left, but no security was provided to their candidates in the country.

Rabbani said multiple factors, including international establishment’s conspiracy to bring the right wing party to the power corridors, poor performance of the party government in Balochistan and rigging, caused failure of the party in the elections.

He said PPP had a clear majority and would form government in Sindh. “Through good governance and excellent performance in the provincial government, we will give message to the PML-N’s federal government that PPP is waiting for next tenure,” he said.

Announcing to sit on opposition benches in the parliament, the PPP leader unveiled the seven point agenda through which the party would monitor the performance of the PML-N government.

In economic sector, Rabbani said, the party would monitor the economic policies of the government and negotiations with IMF and its conditions, price-control mechanism and relief in terms of reduction of prices of daily-use items expected from the new government.

The PPP would monitor the performance of the new government in terms of job generations for the people as well as restoration of trade unions in banks and industries, he asserted.

Senator Raza Rabbani said the party would guard the provincial autonomy introduced under the 18th Amendment in the Constitution. He declared PPP would not allow the federal government to roll back the provincial autonomy, implemented after a long struggle of democratic and nationalist forces, he reiterated. He condemned the efforts made by the caretaker government to transfer health and education sectors back to the Centre from the provinces unconstitutionally. The party would monitor the implementation on the 18th Amendment in the Constitution, he added.

He continued PPP, as opposition, would gauge the performance of the PML-N government on equal share of the provinces and the federal government from the natural resources. In addition, gas and electricity could not be transferred to another province if the needs of the province in which it is produced were not fulfilled.

Rabbani stated the party would wait for the national anti-terrorism policy of the next government as a counter strategy against the international and national terrorism and extremism as there was no mention of a clear policy in the election manifesto of PML-N.

“If the federal government does not come up with any policy, the opposition will bring a counter-terrorism policy for legislation through private members’ bill in the parliament,” the PPP leader announced.

Rabbani said: “The party will also monitor the foreign policy of the next government and see whether it adopts the old foreign policy in Afghanistan or implement the independent foreign policy recommended by the joint session of the parliament through a resolution on October 22, 2008.”

The PPP leader said the opposition would wait for the clear policy of the PML-N government on drone attacks as well as its stance on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan next year and policy about Taliban as well as relations with Afghanistan.

The senator said PPP would closely monitor the performance of the government about the energy crisis. The party would monitor the stance and policy of the next government about mega projects of Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline and Gwadar Port under the Chinese government which caused anger of international establishment against the party, Rabbani said, adding the international establishment’s conspiracy was one of the factors for PPP’s failure in the elections. PPP would also monitor the next government’s policy on Balochistan and steps to control the law and order in the country, he added.

Raza Rabbani said PPP would not indulge in the politics of opposition for the sake of opposition against the government, but would play an effective and constructive role.

Replying to a question, he ruled out possibility of any forward bloc in PPP in the Senate, the National Assembly or within the party setup.

Replying to another question, he said poor performance of the party’s government and failure to implement the Balochistan package factored defeat of PPP in the province.http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/national/16-May-2013/global-establishment-key-factor-in-our-defeat-ppp

At a press briefing, the ex ambassador said that Nawaz Sharif has emerged as a strong leader and he had yet to decid whether he wanted to indulge in political wrangling or focus on economy, good governance and improving relations with India.

He said that rigging in recent polls showed violation of rules and regulations. Speaking on the occasion, Denial Markey, an expert on Pakistan affairs, said that the elections had further pushed the country into ethnic divide.

Both the speakers rejected a US newspaper reports that US had played any role in Nawaz Sharif victory against his political rival Imran Khan.http://www.thefrontierpost.com/article/12774/

One of PML-N’s two subcommittees, led by Ayaz Sadiq, will be travelling to Balochistan today, where it will make the decision. The other subcommittee, led by Rana Mashhood, will return to Lahore today after a successful trip to Sindh.

The two committees have been tasked to hold talks with political parties in the two provinces as well as independent lawmakers-elect over the possibility of forming coalition governments either in the Centre or in the provinces.

Ayaz Sadiq and Iqbal Zafar Jhagra will hold final meetings with Baloch nationalists and heads of various political parties, in this regard.

According to sources, PML-N’s choice for NA speaker is linked to its chances at forming a government in Balochistan: If Nawaz’s party awards the portfolio of NA speaker to Achakzai, the PML-N would, in turn, be able to claim the post of chief minister Balochistan, which the party plans to hand to Sardar Sanaullah Khan Zehri.

PML-N’s senior leadership, however, has advised Nawaz to pick Baloch as the speaker considering he is a party loyalist, and to keep Achakzai as the second option.

In the Balochistan Assembly, there are a total of 65 seats – 51 general seats, 11 women seats and three for non-Muslim members. Thirty-three seats are required to form a government.

According to statistics, the PML-N and the PkMAP secured nine seats each while National Party claimed seven, from Balochistan.

While talking with The Express Tribune, Zehri said that with four seats for women and one minority seat, the PML-N has a total of 15 MPAs – the same number as the MPAs in PkMAP. He added that NP is also willing to join their coalition, through which they would easily form a government in Balochistan.

Commenting on the expected portfolio of NA speaker, he said both Baloch and Achakzai have a good reputation.

Achakzai, on the other hand, told The Express Tribune that he was not aware of any such development, and would be able to comment on the matter when he meets PML-N officials.

Sindh

Meanwhile, according to sources, the PML-N has finalised matters with the PML-F, Arbab Ghulam Rahim, and the National Peoples Party and has also struck deals with its own members in Sindh. PML-F’s Pir Pagara will hold a final meeting with Nawaz Sharif within three days in Raiwind. According to details, Pagara’s meeting will be followed by a meeting of other party chiefs in Sindh. All heads will finalise their deals with Nawaz and give him the go-ahead in the Centre.

PML-N’s committee has devised a development package for Sindh, and its allied parties presented a list of their proposed development projects which the PML-N government will have to fulfill. Apart from this, the composition of the federal cabinet, chairmen of various committees in the National Assembly and other portfolios were also discussed. http://tribune.com.pk/story/549522/political-speculation-achakzai-qadir-baloch-hot-contenders-for-na-speaker/

Independent candidates are nearly all selecting PML-N as their choice of political affiliation, according to a source close to PML-N.

More independent candidates joined from Balochistan, Kohistan and Swabi as the party gains further strength in the assemblies.

PML-N currently holds 126 seats in the National Assembly.

Sharif held a party meeting at his Raiwind residence on May 13, where the party’s senior leaders Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Ahsan Iqbal and Rana Sanaullah, among others, were in attendance. The meeting came up with a sketch of what the future government will look like.

Nisar Ali Khan’s task was to contact independent candidates who won national assembly seats from across the country and determine their terms and conditions. Shahbaz Sharif was to assist him and deal with independent NA candidates who won from Punjab while Nisar was to contact independent candidates from Sindh, K-P and Balochistan.

The Nisar-led committee will also suggest names of the National Assembly speaker and deputy speaker, and also the chairpersons of various NA committees to the party leadership. Apart from this, the committee will communicate with the caretaker setup to decide which day the National Assembly session will be convened.http://tribune.com.pk/story/549587/sharif-gains-strength-as-independent-candidates-pick-n-league/

Mr. Khan, who made Mr. Sharif the main target of his dynamic and invective-filled anticorruption campaign, fell off a speaking platform and fractured his back on May 7. Just four days later, his party took a similar tumble on election day, not only failing to cut deeply into Mr. Sharif’s expected lead, but now possibly not even taking second place in Parliament.

Still, regardless of the final tally, expected later this week, Mr. Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party will become a significant player on the political scene, controlling the regional government of a major province. Considering the challenges ahead, Mr. Sharif buried the hatchet and brought flowers.

“Today, we have made peace,” Mr. Sharif said, smiling for the cameras at a news conference after the meeting. “He was receptive and acknowledged my gesture.”

Mr. Sharif added, “We all have to work together to get the country out of a quagmire of problems.”

Mr. Khan was a giant in the cricket world before mounting his political movement. And throughout the campaign, he always kept a cricket bat close — as a totemic image on his posters and a prop in his campaign speeches. To the boisterous cheering of electrified young crowds, Mr. Khan would wave the bat and warn that he would use it to give the lion — the symbol of Mr. Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party — a heavy beating.

That captured the spirit of the campaign quite well.

Sharif and Khan supporters scuffled, berated one another on social media and dug up old scandals to spice their latest broadsides. Some political analysts faulted Mr. Khan as having allowed things to get too aggressive.

Mr. Sharif tried to appear above the fray during his campaign, but was given to writing off his main political rival publicly as having been a good athlete — and intimating that he had not become much more.

But on Tuesday, with Mr. Sharif well into the work of assembling a cabinet and governing coalition, the talk turned to finding common ground.

Mr. Sharif, himself an avid cricket player in his youth, said that during their brief talk, “I offered to play a friendly match with him.” He said he had left a bouquet.

In recent days, video messages to Mr. Khan’s supporters showed him bedridden and wearing a large neck and back brace, appearing to accept his party’s election disappointment even while vowing to get to the bottom of election fraud reports.

On Tuesday, however, his comments were confined to a press statement, in which his spokeswoman said that the two leaders had met in a “cordial atmosphere” and that Mr. Khan had urged Mr. Sharif to “resolve the Taliban issue; otherwise there could be no peace in the country.”

Mr. Khan has long advocated political outreach to the Pakistani Taliban rather than military efforts against them.

Facing the news media later, Mr. Sharif simply quoted Mr. Khan as assuring him a “good working relationship.”

www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/world/asia/pakistans-nawaz-sharif-offers-truce-and-flowers-to-rival.html?_r=0