Source: ET
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) believes this is part of a bigger game plan. “Politico-religious parties and right-wing political groups are conniving with the establishment to damage and weaken left-wing parties,” PPP Senator Raza Rabbani told The Express Tribune in an exclusive interview on Monday.
Senator Rabbani said the establishment has been in league with conservative parties for a long time. “Together they set long- and short-term priorities,” he added. “Left-wing political groups, on the other, hand could never find favour with the establishment.”
Referring to the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal as an example of this collusion, Senator Rabbani blamed Musharraf for gelling politico-religious parties into an electoral alliance in 2002 in an attempt to ‘sideline’ moderate and liberal political forces. “Former military dictator Pervez Musharraf purposely increased the strength of the lower house of Parliament to 342 through the Legal Framework Order. His purpose was that no single political party should win a clear majority,” Senator Rabbani said. Musharraf knew that a coalition government would be more vulnerable to interference, he added.