A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF COALITION POLITICS IN PAKISTAN A CASE STUDY OF PPPLED COALITION 20082013

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gpr.2021(VI-IV).01      10.31703/gpr.2021(VI-IV).01      Published : Dec 2021
Authored by : Muhammad Touqeer AkhterNasir , Khan Faqir

01 Pages : 1-13

    Abstrict

    Coalition politics have played a unique role in the modern system of governance. It played a vital role in politics for bringing the smaller political parties closer by reducing the chances of serious conflicts. Coalitions can be governmental, which are formed after elections, and coalitions also can be formed before elections. Like most of the Third World countries, Pakistan is an emerging democratic state with a multi-party setup. Present research work tried to analyze different aspects of coalition politics since the creation of Pakistan; however, the scope of this research was restricted to the era from 2008 to 2013. The study has included the concept of coalitions, the formation of coalitions, their governance, terminations, and their implications on the politics of Pakistan. In order to get pinpoint the performance of the coalition during 2008-2013, primary sources, including official documents, statements, and interviews, and secondary sources like books, journals, newspapers, and websites have been consulted. Basically, it is qualitative research, but sometimes quantitative material is also utilized. To complete the research, historical, descriptive, and experimental methods were used. The study revealed that how coalition politics has become a backbone of democracy in Pakistan, where many parties were getting representation in the legislative assembly. Here, the successful tenure of the PPP-led coalition gave new hope to the political stakeholders to work together for sustainable democracy in Pakistan.

    Keywords

    Coalition Politics, Alliance Theory, PPP-led Coalition, Ruling Alliances, Politics of Pakistan 2008-2013, 18th Amendment Bill, Politics of Reconciliation

    Introduction

    Political parties are the linkage between government and people. Regional political parties or pressure groups are unable to get the majority in elections. If they are in opposition for a long time, then they are not influential then people will not vote them so, to get into power to solve the problems of their community, it's their need to get into the coalition to have a fair share in government (Qasim & Ali, 2019). When none of the political parties can make a government, then they need coalition partners, or for a piece of legislation, they need a coalition. Coalitions can have a limited age, even only for a day to achieve the single objective, and can also have years-long age to achieve multiple goals (Budge & Laver, 1986). There are some benefits of coalitions like wide networking, shared information, funds, and resources, but there are some costs to coalitions like loss of autonomy, grouping, and compromises. For a successful coalition, there should be a common purpose, pre-accepted a set of rules and limitations, competent leadership, shared resources, influential decision-makers, and a good strategy. The major types of coalitions are electoral coalitions, office seeking coalitions, opposition parties coalitions, and policy-based coalitions (Bawn & Rosenbluth, 2003). 

    From the creation of Pakistan multi-party system was adopted, but due to weak political institutions, the military ruled this country for a long time even the intervals of democracy were shorter than the intervals of the military (Rizvi, 1991). About 127 (Election Commission of Pakistan, n.d) political parties are registered in the Election Commission of Pakistan, but only a few political parties can claim to be the national parties other parties are regional, religious, ethnic, or based on racism. For a specific period of time party, less election system (Rais, 1985) was implemented, and for a long time after elections, the fear of the dissolution of the assemblies by the President did not allow the democracy to do its function properly. Along with military involvement, the demand of provincial autonomy, wedera shahi,  malik system, bureaucracy, the inability of political workers, leg-pulling of political parties, incompetency, nepotism and failure of national parties and to behave like a responsible segment of the society are other reasons. 

    Although Pakistan is the result of political efforts but inherited, a system of democracy was not very much mature, especially the people of Pakistan were not this much educated to elect suitable candidates for lawmaking. At the start, it was hardly possible to oppose Muslim League as it was the party that won Pakistan for its people (Jalal, 2014). On the other hand, elites and lords were influencing the decisions, the situation in East Pakistan was not favorable, but the government did nothing. The main foreign exchange was earned by the production of East Pakistan but was spent mostly in West Pakistan. All the military headquarters and capital of Pakistan were in West Pakistan, so practically all the powers were in West Pakistan. Non-Muslims in East Pakistan were in favor of the secular constitution (Ahmed, 2010), which was straightforwardly neglected without taking them into confidence. Another setback for the establishment of new political parties was the constitution of 1962, which did not allow any new registration of the political party. This situation created room for coalitions.

    United Front

    It was also known as Jugtoo Front. It was formed in 1953, ever the first coalition in the history of Pakistan. It was aided by the Indian embassy, and its main demand was provincial autonomy. Molana Bhashani, AK Fazal e Haq and Seherwardi (Maron, 1955) visited every inch of the country to make an opinion against Muslim League. Meanwhile, the elections were delayed on the basis of intelligence reports which clearly stated the popularity of the United Front in East Pakistan, and these tactics gave burning fire more fuel. Finally, in the elections of 1954 United Front got the lion's share by securing 223 seats out of 338 (Mustafa, 2010) while Muslim League's only 10. The only purpose of the United Front was to defeat Muslim League, and they made it. The distribution of portfolios was not easy to step, but with the creation of additional portfolios, the matter was resolved, but in East Pakistan, the situation was not controllable both Sheikh Mujeeb, the then Chief Minister, and Communist Party blamed each other for instability. Governor rule was imposed in 1954 (Asadullah, 2010). One Unit system was adopted to balance both the wings of Pakistan. Participating parties on different occasions left the coalition, re-entered in coalition but with the arrival of Ayub Khan as dictator United Front was ended, and the reason was the inexperience of political parties. The factors responsible for the formation of the United Front were multiparty-ism, majoritarian electoral system, and the League's authoritarianism. The success of the United Front was making room for any other party after the Muslim League, more rights for the province of East Pakistan, and awareness among the people. Ayub Khan only allowed a limited Edition of Democracy. To oppose a dictator, another coalition was made for the restoration of democracy in the country in the shape of the National Democratic Front.

    National Democratic Front

    In 1962 political activities were allowed, and National Democratic Front was formed. This coalition demanded elections within six months. All the political parties in East Pakistan joined the coalition, but the coalition did not survive in West Pakistan. The activities of PDF were challenged in Supreme Court, and later by two consecutive presidential orders, the activities of PDF were restricted. The people of both wings were happy with the government of Ayub Khan as the crisis in East Pakistan has been ended, so they showed cold shoulders to the call of a strike by PDF. In 1963 (Sayeed, 1968), with the death of Seherwardi the motion of coalition was decelerated. With the war of 1965, all the priorities were changed, and nobody noticed the revised charter of PDF. The coalition did not achieve its goal, but this coalition opened a way for another coalition.

    Combined Opposition Parties

    Khawaja Nazimudin brought Council Muslim League, NIP, Jamat-e-Islami, and Awami League together in another coalition called Combined Opposition Parties. COP tried to oppose strong dictator Ayub Khan by bringing Fatima Jinnah, the sister of the founder of Pakistan, in the election of President, but with the help of agencies, Ayub Khan defeated Fatima Jinnah (Sayeed, 1968) and became more powerful. The war of 1965 changed the position in favor of Ayub Khan, but soon unpopular decision of Ayub Khan at the end of the war made all the political parties again angry they gathered at the platform of the National Conference to make a more influential coalition. A historian cannot say that COP was unsuccessful, but this coalition continued efforts in the reshaping of the National Conference. This coalition was not properly formed as the pioneer parties were from West Pakistan, and Shiekh Mujeeb ur Rehman from East Pakistan was demanding more provincial autonomy (Rashiduzzaman, 1970), which was not acceptable for the parties of West Pakistan. 


    Pakistan Democratic Movement and Democratic Alliance Committee

    Parties were struggling for the revival of democracy, but they needed a united effort. For that purpose, on April 30 1967 (Sayeed, 1968), a coalition was formed with the name of Pakistan Democratic Movement under the presidentship of Nawab Nasrullah Khan. The coalition demanded direct elections, the shift of naval headquarters, independent courts, and independent press. With the arrival of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, all eight parties reshaped PDM into Democratic Alliance Committee in 1969. This coalition made history and compelled a dictator to leave his office through public demonstrations, strikes, and speeches. The dialogue between DAC and Ayub Khan was not possible due to Sheikh Mujeeb’s famous six points, which are not acceptable for Ayub Khan at any cost. The shift of power was not according to expectations after Ayub Khan. General Yahya Khan took power as he was a decedent of Ayub Khan in the Army. It was a long discussion, but General Yahya Khan was unable to control the country (Mustafa & Nawaz, 2014) so, East Pakistan was departed in 1971. Both the coalitions were badly failed as they did not maintain unity at the national level.  


    Pakistan National Alliance

    After partition, PPP emerged as a major party, and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto took over the charge of the government as a civil dictator. In 1977 (Suhail, 2011), another coalition was formed to compete with PPP, but due to hard talks among leaders in the home of Rafique Ahmed Bajwa, who was the legal adviser of many politicians Asghar Khan and others did not put their best efforts in the coalition. The PNA was unsuccessful in defeating PPP. PNA continued its strikes and public demonstrations; Kuwait, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia came forward to prevent Pakistan from another martial law, but it happened. This coalition changed its name to Nizam-e-Mustafa, and ZA Bhutto (Kokab & Khan, 2018) introduced many Islamic laws to deal with this new situation. Due to the pressure of PNC, many new Islamic laws for society were approved by the government. The unsuccessfulness of dialogues was responsible for another martial law in July 1977. The immaturity of the ruling party brought the opposition coalition to a dead end. With the imposition of martial law, the coalition was terminated with no such achievements.

    Movement for Restoration of Democracy

    At the start of martial law, many politicians were restricted, and political activities were banned. In 1981 another coalition came into existence to get rights from a dictator. The basic demand of the MRD was the restoration of the constitution of 1973. General Zia was a strict dictator for those who opposed him. Authors, writers, and politicians were punished for raising their voices (Mehdi, 2013). The war of the USA in Afghanistan made General Zia strong, but political parties continued their struggle. The coalition got many benefits like elections, relaxations for the press, partial independence of courts, removal of martial law, and adoption of Islamic laws, but General Zia was a wise man who took control of the government in hand by taking the powers of dissolution of parliament.  With the death of General Zia in the plane crash, PPP emerged as a strong political party, so there was no survival for smaller political parties for the next five years. To contest against PPP for getting benefits, smaller political parties entered a pre-election coalition (Suhail, 2011).

    Islamic Democratic Coalition

    General Zia used Islamic reforms to remain in power, so at that time, every party was proving herself more Islamic and more ideological. Unlike previous coalitions, this coalition was well documented and mutually agreed to bring religious parties (Rizvi, 1998) closer PMLN used the name of Islamic Democratic Coalition. Coalition tried their best to compete with PPP, but PPP got a majority in the election of National Assembly, and surprisingly IJI got a majority in provincial assemblies of Punjab and Baluchistan. This was the first major coalition of the political parties that enabled smaller parties to get into power and to make government when the opposition was very strong. The federal government of PPP tried to dictate IJI in Punjab, but they were rejected many times, which created unrest and weakened the political institutions. As a result of their differences, the then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolved the assemblies (Ziring, 1991) and announced new elections. The elections of 1990 favored IJI, and this coalition made the government at the central level. This time the process of power-sharing in the center made the partners unhappy. After a short time, Nawaz Sharif was left with his own party only in the coalition, but no one announced. IJI was a durable and sustainable coalition. They achieved their goal and made the government, but after getting into power, PMLN did not accommodate the smaller parties (Amin, 1994), which ended this coalition. Islamic Democratic Front and Pakistan Democratic Coalition were formed to compete with IJI, but they were not well developed or documented. These coalitions were not made for clear objectives, so they were unsuccessful.


    National Democratic Alliance and Grand Democratic Alliance

    After the success of IJI, political parties learned that to compete with a strong opponent, there should be a coalition. At a moment, Nawaz Sharif made a coalition named IJI, Benazir made a coalition named as PDA and all those parties who were not with PMLN or PPP made another coalition named as National Democratic Alliance under Nasrullah Khan in 1992 (Wasseem, 1992). Opposition was trying to de-seat Nawas Sharif only by demonstrations and strikes. NDA was ended as PPP was not resigning from Baluchistan Assembly. The era from 1993 to 1999 did not produce any significant coalition, but in 1999 Grand Democratic Alliance was formed by 19 parties (Chawla & Ullah, 2018) to oppose a dictator.

    Coalition for Restoration of Democracy (CRD)

    The founder of many coalitions, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, again formed a coalition (Fruman, 2011) for the restoration of democracy after the martial law of General Pervez Musharraf. This coalition achieved its goals partially as the main two demands were the restoration of the constitution and fair elections. In this coalition, PMLN was asking for the removal of uniformed general, but PPP was reluctant. The leaders of both the political parties left the country, which reduced the acceleration of CRD. Political parties participated in the elections of 2002, local body elections 2005, and general elections of 2008, which means no boycott, no opposition so, the coalition was automatically terminated with partial achievements of restoration of democracy (El-Khawas, 2009).


    Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA)

    To get more powers in government, this time religious parties made a coalition named as United Council for Action, commonly known as Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal or MMA, in 2002 (Khan, 2014) in the direct opposition of General Pervez Musharaf. The restrictions by General Pervez Musharaf on PPP and PMLN allowed MMA to play its innings easily, so after a comprehensive campaign MMA made its governments in NWFP and Baluchistan after the elections of 2002. It was a successful coalition and lasted for a long time. The local body elections of 2005 and general elections of 2008 highlighted the differences among coalition parties on the issue of allotment of seats. Then Sami ul Haq group left the coalition, and slowly this coalition came to its end (Bansal, 2006). After MMA these religious parties did not enter in any significant coalition, and they never came back in power.


    Ruling Coalition 2002

    After the elections of 2002, the handicapped parties PPP, PMLN, and ANP were unable to participate actively, but PMLQ, MQM, and MMA emerged as major political parties. An un-named coalition was formed, which was led by PMLQ (Nelson, 2009) at the federal level. The coalition government completed its constitutional tenure of 5 years for the first time in the history of Pakistan. MQM left the coalition many times, but they rejoined it so, at the end of 5 years, the coalition was finally terminated with a lot of achievements. This coalition was B team of General Pervez Musharaf, so it was never respected by political workers (Amin et al., 2020).


    All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM)

    All Parties Conference in London gave birth of the All Parties Democratic Movement in 2007 (Ahmed & Stephan, 2010). The aim of the coalition was to stop General Pervez Musharaf from being re-elected as President of Pakistan. Out of 36 political parties, eight parties hesitated and didn't join the coalition. It was a huge coalition that all major parties have announced to boycott the elections, but PMLN took a u-turn, and they announced at the last moment that they would take part in the election, it was a tough time for other parties to make their decisions as only three days were left for submission of documents. This change of mind of PMLN brought the ultimate end of APDM with no achievements.

    Situation before General Elections of 2008

    In the March 2007 an issue among Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftekhar Muhammad Chaudhary and President Pervez Musharaf was raised resulting Lawyer’s movement which badly defamed the President. The incident of Lal Masjid in Islamabad (Siddique, 2008), poor management after floods in Sind, war on terror, missing persons and the incident of Nawab Akbar Bugatti in Baluchistan weakened the General. National Reconciliation Order brought many politicians back in politics to get favor for Musharaf in upcoming elections, but before elections, all above factors forced him to leave the post of Army head. He resigned from Army and became civilian President. This was the worst situation of the country where Chief Justice was asking for justice, army head was asking for security as he was under severe threats, and political leaders were asking for political institutions and democracy. The economy was going down day by day, nothing was stable. More than 600 military persons were the heads of different institutions (Behuria, 2009). The media was conducting healthy discussions on politics, economy, and social issues as they were allowed by Musharaf. PMLQ was expecting its victory in Punjab, MMA in KP, and MQM in Sind in upcoming elections. The name of Chief Minister of Punjab Pervez Elahi was circulating for the Prime Minister’s office. With the resignation of General Pervez Musharaf, the new General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani changed the situation after taking the charge. Military intelligence was pulled back from politics. It was instructed by him not to build relations with politicians (Shah, 2008). It was time to regain respect for the army because with the General Musharaf the military institute was also disrespected.

     

    Elections 2008
    Table 1. National Assembly: Seats Distributions

    Area

    General Seats

    Reserved for Women

    Non-Muslims

    Punjab

    148

    35

    10

    Sindh

    61

    14

    NWFP

    35

    08

    Balochistan

    14

    03

    FATA

    12

    -

    Islamabad

    02

    -

    Total

    272

     

    Grand Total

    342

    Source: Election Commission of Pakistan, General Election 2008

    http://www.ecp.gov.pk/GE2008.aspx (accessed on April 27, 2021)

    Table 2

    Provincial Assemblies: Distribution of seats


    Punjab Assembly

    Sindh Assembly

    NWFP Assembly

    Balochistan Assembly

    General

    Women

    Non-Muslim

    Total

    General

    Women

    Non-Muslim

    Total

    General

    Women

    Non-Muslim

    Total

    General

    Women

    Non-Muslim

    Total

    297

    66

    8

    371

    130

    29

    09

    168

    99

    22

    03

    124

    51

    11

    03

    65

    Source: Election Commission of Pakistan, General Election 2008

    http://www.ecp.gov.pk/GE2008.aspx (accessed on April 27, 2021)


    Table 3. Result of Elections 2008


    Source: Election Commission of Pakistan, General Election 2008

    http://www.ecp.gov.pk/GE2008.aspx (accessed on April 27, 2021)

    Party

    NA

    PF

    PS

    PB

    PP

    PPPP

    124

    30

    93

    12

    107

    PML-N

    91

    9

    0

    0

    169

    MQM

    25

    0

    51

    0

    00

    ANY

    13

    48

    2

    4

    0

    PML-Q

    54

    6

    9

    19

    84

    MMA

    7

    14

    0

    10

    2

    PML-F

    5

    0

    8

    0

    3

    BNP-A

    1

    0

    0

    7

    0

    PPP-S

    1

    6

    0

    0

    0

    NPP

    1

    0

    3

    0

    0

    NP

    0

    0

    0

    1

    0

    IND

    17

    11

    0

    12

    4

    TOTAL OBTAINED

    339

    124

    166

    65

    369

    TOTAL SEATS

    342

    124

    168

    65

    371

    The results were not according to expectations of sitting President and PMLQ. The scenario was totally changed for General ® Pervez Musharaf and for the King’s Party as well. The rivals of all the time became friends and joined their hands for coalition. PPP was at the top, and PMLN was the second-largest party in the parliament. History witnessed no leg-pulling and no fights, political parties made the history by making comprehensive coalition. PPP gave PMLN the right of representation in center and PMLN gave PPP their right of representation in Punjab.

    Murree Declaration

    Murree declaration or Bhurban Accord (Nazir et al., 2014) was bonding among political parties that how they should work for democracy in Pakistan. It was agreed that the new government would restore the judges within 30 days, PPP-led coalition took over the charge of the government but did nothing for the restoration of judges. Before elections it was promise of PMLN with their voters that after elections they will fight for judges so they came on dead-end with PPP. PPP was reluctant to restore the Chief Justice as it was assumed that the said Chief Justice will cancel the NRO and will reopen all the corruption cases level on PPP along with other politicians. After several rounds of talks with PPP nothing was finalized. PMLN decided to demonstrate sit-in in Islamabad. Retired persons, lawyers, many societies, and PMLN started their traveling towards Islamabad, but in the middle of the way government again called the representatives and decided to accept the demand. Single point agenda was accepted and presented in the parliament in the shape of "A constitutional Package" to solve the problems of service length (Riaz, 2009), salaries related matters. With the restoration of judges PMLN became popular in Pakistan but they never came back to join coalition in the center. Coalition was terminated with the resignations of PMLN ministers in the center but the ministers of PPP continued their charge of ministries. It was Murree declaration which compelled them to work with each other, especially on pre-decided issues. The refusal of demand of restoration of judges would be a call for another martial law because it was a dead-end. 

    Opposition did not take advantage of unrest in the country. PMLN resigned from the center, the government of Punjab was in the hands of PMLN but they never tried to destabilize the federal government. This cooperation of political parties created a huge problem for Musharaf to be re-elected as President of Pakistan (Iqbal, 2007).

    Asif Ali Zardari as President of Pakistan

    When Benazir Bhutto left the country his spouse Asif Ali Zardari decided to remain in the country to face the charges of corruption leveled by Pervez Musharaf. For the elections of 2008, Benazir came back to Pakistan and started its campaign, but she was killed which made his spouse co-chairman of PPP (Raza & Akbar, 2012). The transition, which was started in 2002 brought to its end with the resignation of Pervez Musharaf in 2008, as he was a weak president now. Lawyers composed songs, chanted slogans, and demanded his resignation and resignation only. Dictator needed safe exit as Musharaf, and his party was weak now. PMLN, PPP, ANP, and JUIF were against him. To avoid impeachment, he resigned after an hour-long televised address where he has counted all his efforts and achievements, but who cares? Within three weeks Asif Ali Zardari was elected as President of Pakistan by getting 481 out of 702 votes (Raza & Bukhari, 2017).

    He was the first civilian but powerful President of Pakistan. Many of them were only ceremonial presidents having no such powers to influence Prime Minister's policies. He inherited all the powers which Musharraf had till the 18th amendment. After the 18th amendment, he was still powerful President because he was also head of his party. He influenced the federal ministers and changed them as and when it was needed. After gaining power, he disregarded his promise of the restoration of judges as he said that nothing was absolute in politics. PMLN was asking for restoration of judiciary as it was their promise in election campaign 2008 and the same was promised by Zardari in Murree Accord. He delayed and postponed the restoration of judges for a long time because of fear of case of NRO.

    At the moment to defuse the situation government helped Dr Abdul Qadir Khan, a famous Pakistani nuclear scientist, to fight his case and the court decided in his favor then he was released from house arrest. He was house arrested by Musharaf after his televised confession for providing nuclear technology and aiding Iran, Libya and North Korea. Due to his respect all over the Pakistan PPP tried to cash his release but they were failed due to seriousness of lawyers and PMLN. The situation went out of control for the government, both the parties reached at the point of no return. The then Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan Justice Abdul Hameed Dodger who was a close friend of President Zardari decided a case on February 25, 2009, which disallowed Sharif Brothers to hold any public office for a lifetime. Shehbaz Sharif who was Chief Minister of Punjab at that time left his office, and the governor rule was imposed for two months by Zardari in Punjab. Military was focusing on the political unrest in Pakistan, but they did not avail this chance.

    Performance of Ruling coalition 2008

    To bring peace in the country an action was taken against Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan with the consensus of all political parties and law enforcement agencies in May 2009, which was successful.  

    Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Baluchistan package was a political, economic and administrative (Imran & Akram-ul-Haq, 2016) initiative by a PPP-led coalition. It was approved only for the people of Baluchistan and it was also a part of the Murree declaration. Six hundred talented students of Baluchistan were given scholarships for higher studies through Higher Education Commission. 1725 posts were filled during 2008-2013 in Baluchistan under Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Baluchistan package (Taj & Bilal, 2018). Young people of Baluchistan were appointed in Aviation Division, Cabinet Division, Commerce Ministry, Defence Ministry, Economic Affairs Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Housing Ministry, Information Technology Ministry, Industries Ministry, Interior Ministry, Pakistan Railways, Law Ministry, and Presidency. Bloch people were given more control on resources as they were always demanding for it. Baluchistan was regarded as the backward province of Pakistan, but potentially this province is very rich in resources of oil, natural gas, huge mines of gold, copper and lead reserves.

    Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) was introduced by Zardari government in July 2008.it was a targeted, unconditional and cash delivery program which was introduced after rapid food price inflation in Pakistan. Its special focus was widows and women with small or no income. The program was introduced and protected by the Act of parliament where Prime Minister was its patron and President of Pakistan was its Chief Patron. The goals and objectives of the program were as follow;

    Enhance the capacities of poor people

    Implement and formulate the policies for poor people

    Reduce poverty by equitable distribution of money among low income groups

    BISP was a federal project, and it was equally known all over the Pakistan with one Federal office and six regional offices including Gilgit Baltistan and AJK. 33 divisional and 385 tehsil offices were distributing money among the women of Pakistan. Infect this government-created the largest database of poor families after door to door survey. About 90 Billion dollars were distributed among 9.4 million families in Pakistan under BISP. It was continued by the PMLN government with the same name and same acceleration but after PTI-led coalition government, it was renamed as Ehsaas Program. To make it more transparent smart cards were introduced, which made the delivery of cash easy under the chairmanship of Dr Sania Nishter. In 2008-2009 about 1.5% of the general population received the cash through BISP which were below poverty level. Waseela-e-Haq, Waseela-e-Rozgar and Waseela-e-Sehat programs were the byproducts of BISP which were also helping the poor people in Pakistan. 

    7th National Finance Commission Award (Mustafa, 2011) was approved in December 2009 which was really an achievement of coalition partners. The then PM Yousuf Raza Gilani, Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif, NWFP CM Amir Haider Khan Hoti, Sindh CM Qaim Ali Shah and CM of  Baluchistan Aslam Raisani along with other members of federal cabinet signed the accord. According to accord the distribution of financial assets was Rs 227 billion in the 1st year, Rs850 billion in 2nd year and Rs1,250 billion next year (Ahmed et al., 2007). For the first time, other factors like area, poverty, revenue collection and revenue generation were considered after population in any NFC award. Coalition partners gave the credit to each other as all the heads of provinces were agreed here specially Punjab who was on giving end to its younger brothers. The share of Baluchistan was increased about 9% which is 83 billion in first year (Sabir, 2010). 

    Pakistan was on 147th position out of 188 countries (Ghafoor & Haider, 2018) because of poor performance on maintaining women health, education, economic and political engagements. To reduce differences among men and women, this bill was approved, and it also provided a confident work force in the shape of women for the betterment of Pakistan. This bill provided a secure environment for women to work in offices or organizations. On this moment President Asif Ali Zardari said “my wife was stronger than me, she is guiding me from grave”. Women Protection Bill was passed in March 2010 (Khatak, 2010) against harassment at work places which was another achievement of a coalition government.

    18th amendment in the constitution of Pakistan was another milestone and it gave strength to the institutions. About 981 policy papers, recommendations and suggestions were forwarded, it was almost a review of the constitution of 1973 (Hussain & Kokab, 2012). Committee took 9 months and in 77 meetings they came to any ultimate solution. 100 articles of the constitution were reviewed which means 34% of the constitution of Pakistan was reviewed in 18th amendment. Provincial autonomy was increased as it was promised in its election campaign by all the political parties (Zulfiqar, 2012). The power to dissolve the assemblies was taken back. Administrative and financial control was given to provinces for many autonomous bodies and institutions. National finance commission was restructured. Control on mineral resources was given to provinces. The distribution of resources and the control of resources were restructured. In March 2010 NWFP was renamed as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as it was promise of ANP during its election campaign (Zulfiqar, 2012). This was a huge achievement of coalition, Pakistan was over centralized during military regimes but this amendment haled all many wounds permanently (Hussain & Kokab, 2012).

    During 2008-2013 many times opposition got opportunity to destabilize the government, but they did not do anything against the norms of democracy. In Murree Declaration, the independence of the Judiciary was promised, so the termination of Yousaf Raza Gilani from the Supreme Court of Pakistan (Masud et al., 2013) on the basis of contempt of court was never made controversial by the government. They obeyed the court and elected a new Prime Minister. This respect for judiciary was really unexpected, look at Musharraf he de-seated the highest man of Judiciary on personal likes and dislikes basis. 

    Militancy in FATA is another chapter of PPP-led coalition government. Autonomous tribes and FCR were controversial ever as people living over there were not happy with the laws and law enforcement agencies, they have their own traditions, social and political system. They were more religious as compared to other parts of Pakistan. Militants emerged from this area, but people of FATA were killed by militants all the time. After the arrival of NATO forces in Afghanistan in 2001, the peace of FATA became compulsory for Pakistan and Afghanistan. Musharaf recognized the militants as a force and allowed negotiation to reach at any end but it didn’t hold very long. Operation in Waziristan and Khyber agency was launched. The death of Baitullah Masud in 2007 increased the presence of militants in border areas. The reaction of TTP after the incident of Lal Masjid was unbearable for Musharaf. The elections of 2008 replaced ANP with MMA who were strong allay of Musharaf. When Zardari became in power he tried to talk with them as he was a strong believer of politics of reconciliation. During his government TTP was not very active against Pakistan both TTP and Pakistan was at rest. On April 3, 2009 government reached a peace deal in a form of Nizam-e-adal Regulation (NAR) with Sufi Muhammad which was duly passed by parliament. President, Prime Minister and elected parliament were the supreme law makers in Pakistan; they made the law then all the powers were supposed to obey the constitution of Pakistan. It was power of coalition and parliament that Army obeyed them unwillingly.

    A huge sit-in by Tahir-ul-Qadri (Mamoon et al., 2017) was recorded in Islamabad, but the wise leadership of PPP and coalition parties dealt with the party wisely and sent them back to homes peacefully. Coalition governments are considered as weak governments, but history showed that this coalition government witnessed many issues but solved them peacefully. It was the first-ever government which has completed its consecutive five years without any military dictator.

    This PPP-led coalition was well versed and comprehensive. Mandate of major parties was respected. The candidate of Prime ministership was agreed and decided before elections. The post of speaker, deputy speaker in center and same in Punjab was agreed and supported. The key posts and ministries were distributed peacefully. 

    Incompetency and Deficiencies

    Poor planning and incompetency were the major problems of civilian governments so that they were not that much popular among the nation. Low levels of institutionalization, low level of planning with low IQ were the issues of PPP government. Before elections well set manifesto of all the political parties was circulated and the same with PPP, after success the road map is already in hand of government. PPP inherited grave issues like economic crises, poverty, terrorism, weak institutions, social injustice and power crises. As it was a coalition government so they focused on making the allies happy but their own manifesto went on second priority. As a party there was no collective effort to address any single issue except Benazir Income Support Program (BISP).

    For maintaining majority in the parliament PPP relied of coalition partners and to make them happy the era of corruption was opened. No one was asked by any institution in Pakistan and many parties were in government for lawmaking which promoted nepotism and bad governance. Individual publicity and party fame were always important for PPP, they promoted it by newspapers, banners, and demonstrations.

    Power crises in Pakistan were never addressed during the PPP-led coalition government. Industries were shutting down their workshops because of power shortage. Continuous four hours load shedding in Karachi forced the people to come out on the road for protest, but Karachi was simply given extra power from other power sectors, but power generation was never planned. Summers really burdened the people in Pakistan, the families who could afford UPS and generators shifted to alternate sources of energy, but the poor families were left alone. 

    Sawat was a beautiful and peaceful valley but army and other law enforcement agencies were having little control on it, when militant entered in this area no force was able to fight against them. Actions of Musharaf like Lal Masjid and Baluchistan earned bad name for army so before going in Sawat army took legal cover from Zardari government. In a televised address, Prime Minister Gilani Announced an army action against TTP in Sawat. Civil-military relations during this Rahe-e-rast operation were cooperated. The writ of the government was regained through army operation. It was a failure of political government that they were unable to talk with the people of Sawat to bring them back. War and fights with fellow men were never good options. Why coalition government did not negotiate? Why millions of rupees were spent in three weeks to damage our own fellow men property? Why proper solution was not made? Why Mullan Fazallah was not convinced? Although writ of government is maintained now but military operation should be the last option. There should be some difference among a political government and a dictator.

    Termination of coalitions during 2008-2013

    It is always solemnly responsibility of the ruling party to take its coalition partners with her. PPP responded with patience and wisely. The issue of restoration of judges, replacement of Asif Ali Zardari with Pervez Musharaf, 18th Amendment and the sit-in of Tahir-ul-Qadri were huge issues where the right decisions on the right time made the history. ANP, MQM, PPP, PMLN, PMLF and JUIF were the part of ruling coalition; the researcher can say that all the major parties were in government. First termination of coalition was seen in very next months after election when the ministers of PMLN resigned. It is the failure of political parties that when they have promised that they will restore judges within one month after getting power then why it was delayed?

    In 2013 MQM parts its ways in center and in Sind by leaving the coalition. It was almost the end of government, so it was only a stunt before elections as these two parties are contesting basically from Sind (Hussain, 2014). MQM did the same many times during 2008-2013 but after the announcement of termination of coalition every time some rounds of discussion took the MQM back in coalition except the last time. JUIF, ANP, PMLF and independent members from FATA remained in coalition all the time.

    Coalition with PMLQ is another chapter in this government. PPP was not able to approve the budget for the year of 2011 and they invited PMLQ to join the coalition. Anything under sky was offered to them, and they went for Deputy Prime Minister-ship, a new post was created (Shahnawaz, 2020) with no powers and no responsibilities even in the absence of Prime Minister of Pakistan. The first and last Deputy Prime minister of Pakistan was Chaudhry Pervez Elahi. The final termination of coalition was the constitutional end of the parliament after completing its five years. 

    Conclusion

    In the history of Pakistan many successful coalitions

    were made before and after elections but the successful ruling coalition was in 2008-2013 which was led by PPP, it was clearly drawback of government in 2008 that she did not care about the sustainability of coalition in early months. Government is always on the giving end and coalition partners are always on the demanding or receiving end so partners should always be respected. Decisions should be popular with full consensus of member parties. Promised should be fulfilled. The inclusion of many parties in government means the inclusion of many regions or thoughts. Better results can be expected from many people as compared to the single dictator. Although there was always a chance of betterment in every performance but coalition during 2008- 2013 achieved a lot. The coalition governments are always weak, but it was a strong coalition government because it maintained the government for consecutive five years. There should be some limitations and rules for coalition as in this coalition PMLQ got extraordinary benefits of the seat of Deputy Prime minister. When limits and rules are defined then there will be a chance of more progressive coalition.

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Cite this article

    APA : Nasir, M. T. A., & Faqir, K. (2021). A Critical Analysis of Coalition Politics in Pakistan A Case Study of PPP-led Coalition 2008-2013. Global Political Review, VI(IV), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.31703/gpr.2021(VI-IV).01
    CHICAGO : Nasir, Muhammad Touqeer Akhter, and Khan Faqir. 2021. "A Critical Analysis of Coalition Politics in Pakistan A Case Study of PPP-led Coalition 2008-2013." Global Political Review, VI (IV): 1-13 doi: 10.31703/gpr.2021(VI-IV).01
    HARVARD : NASIR, M. T. A. & FAQIR, K. 2021. A Critical Analysis of Coalition Politics in Pakistan A Case Study of PPP-led Coalition 2008-2013. Global Political Review, VI, 1-13.
    MHRA : Nasir, Muhammad Touqeer Akhter, and Khan Faqir. 2021. "A Critical Analysis of Coalition Politics in Pakistan A Case Study of PPP-led Coalition 2008-2013." Global Political Review, VI: 1-13
    MLA : Nasir, Muhammad Touqeer Akhter, and Khan Faqir. "A Critical Analysis of Coalition Politics in Pakistan A Case Study of PPP-led Coalition 2008-2013." Global Political Review, VI.IV (2021): 1-13 Print.
    OXFORD : Nasir, Muhammad Touqeer Akhter and Faqir, Khan (2021), "A Critical Analysis of Coalition Politics in Pakistan A Case Study of PPP-led Coalition 2008-2013", Global Political Review, VI (IV), 1-13
    TURABIAN : Nasir, Muhammad Touqeer Akhter, and Khan Faqir. "A Critical Analysis of Coalition Politics in Pakistan A Case Study of PPP-led Coalition 2008-2013." Global Political Review VI, no. IV (2021): 1-13. https://doi.org/10.31703/gpr.2021(VI-IV).01