Do you think that a new centrist party should be formed in Pakistan? The one which can bar all the current PML, PPPP, and MMA elements from joining in, with just one year or 18 months left to the next general elections in Pakistan, isnt it the right time to bring in a change in current political system. I think the President should form a new party while he is power, otherwise he will end like Mirza Aslam Baig and his party.
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
We already have such a party. It's called the MQM. Now all of Pakistan needs to embrace it. :)
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
PML Q is the king's(general's) party.MQM is their ally in sindh.The forward block of PPP that is the PPP(patriots) and obviously MMA the B team of army.I think they all support musharraf.
President musharraf without his vardee would not get any support.A serving general cant be a member of a political party so it will be unconstitutional.
He will make sure that the next parliament will vote for him for the presidency.If two third of the parliament supports musharraf then only changes can be made to the constitution.
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
Syedpk, I was talking more in extra-constitutional frame work, since thats the norm. One thing is clear, he wants to stay in power, so he will use anyway do that but I thought while he is at it, he should start some political purging as well.
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
Many political analysts believed that the first cabinet of musharraf which was handpicked and unelected was the best cabinet during his rule.The majority of those who served as ministers were not corupt or maybe not as corupt as the present one.Javed jabbar,shahida jameel ,moinuddin haider shaukat aziz omar asghar khan were part of that cabinet.
He can take some honest politicians from parties like tehrik insaf and the party of asghar khan and some other honest leaders..But the question remains what ideology they will follow and will they get some mandate.
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
Aslam Beg had a constituency problem..he preferred manipulating politicians behind the scenes ..it's not like he had a base in karachi or within the Army. Mush is smarter he has purged the army of all the people who helped him into power and ..bought of all the rest with plots. It is easier to throw ones weight around when Bush the Bahadur throws a bone every so often..
As for a centrist party..if it talks the truth it'll be tagged with the traitor or kafir label..the good guys will go to prison..the bad ones will join the government. If it strikes a deal with the establishment guys..the good people will quit on principle the bad ones from outside will join. Throw in the odd execution or exile of its leaders..and you'll have the same old people back in power lecturing us about how it's the peoples fault for letting bad people in..and how they took power to save Pakistan..and a last resort..
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
As for a centrist party..if it talks the truth it'll be tagged with the traitor or kafir label..the good guys will go to prison..the bad ones will join the government. If it strikes a deal with the establishment guys..the good people will quit on principle the bad ones from outside will join. Throw in the odd execution or exile of its leaders..and you'll have the same old people back in power lecturing us about how it's the peoples fault for letting bad people in..and how they took power to save Pakistan..and a last resort..
well said
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
I like the idea of barring members who have affiliations with other political parties from joining in.
I know many are suggesting that it will be all good and mighty, but what's the likelihood of this actually happening?
Are there any political parties in world that have had a clean slate throughout their existence?
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
Sadiyah: Define clean slate..as in fiscal corruption? Also purging politics of politicians has happened before..Ayub Khan did ..so did Liaqat Ali Khan in the 1950's and 1960's..the end result was that a new generation of populist leaders came to power in the 1970 elections..the two main democratically elected leaders were ZA Bhutto and Mujeeb ur Rehman..both were subsequently killed by their respective armies.
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
Zakk, yes, fiscal corruption and other sorts of corruption as well (i.e. where friends and relatives of the party in power get special benefits and favours).
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
I know many are suggesting that it will be all good and mighty, but what's the likelihood of this actually happening?
Are there any political parties in world that have had a clean slate throughout their existence?
Who do you thikn will vote for these unknown members who have no political affiliations with PPP or PML[Tindalz] or any of the other political parties?
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
Making a successful political party is a daunting job - with so many diverse interests and cultural differences in provinces.. to date 2 parties PML under Jinnah and PPP under Z A Bhutto have been able to distinguish.. both leaders par excellence :k: dicators like Musharaf cant win a councillor election by themselves with army boots and gun at the head of public..
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
You missed out Sh. Mujib of AL, and Nawaz Sharif of PML.
Jinnah never got to run the country based on his party.
Bhutto and Mujib may have popular support but they both turned out to be worse than petty thugs.
Nawaz Sharif has been the only leader who did a lot of development work in the country. However his worst mistake was to try splitting the army.
Centrist party is a great idea.
However this party must focus on building strong army and a larger tax base to support the army.
It is a pitty that our army gets 2.5 billion a year due to poor taxation and low level of revenues. With proper taxation, we can easily increase our revenues to $40 billion a year. This level of income should allow us to be free of US aid, and spend at least $10 billion a year on our army.
The rest of $30 billion is more than enough to build infrastructure and provide free education upto high school.
Government should get out of funding free higher education.
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
Sadiyah: If you want fiscally clean I'd suggest supporting the JI, MQM, ANP or BNP. In the past the NAP/NDP, Awami League and PML-Qayyum and PML-Convention of Sardar Shaukat Hayat were remarkably clean. The Fauji League leadership (also known as the Army) under ironically Yahya Khan was "fiscally" clean.
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
The key is to crush the religious right, the mullahs who wreck havoc, and let the centralist of all shades a free political reign so long as they reject violence.
Too much uneducated mullahs are making life tricky.
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
^ if the key is to crush the religious right then why would one need a centrist party? for that you would need an extremist secular party.
Anti, a large tax base can not be possible until the administration doesn’t include the larger agricultural land holders in to it. The urban tax base, even though being well diversified is limited. Its the agri sector which needs to included in the tax base, and that can not be done until some very powerful elements of the current administration are not checked.
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
Moderate religious political parties are not a problem. Those who advocate a Pakistan sympathetic in its laws to Islamic POV's are fine. Those who advocate removing the political system to be replaced with Sharia/Ayatollahs are just too much.
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
"Religious Right" is the biggest misnomer in Pakistan. Take away the bearded mumbo jumbo and you will see that religious parties in Pakistan are equally commie leftie when it comes to economic policies.
"Economic Right" wing that could champion for private enterprise, low rates of taxes, small government etc. is practically non-existent in Pakistan.
This is the typical mumbo jumbo discussed in my Urdu People (UPs) circle of friends. The reality is that agri-sector is overburdened with "wrong kind" of taxes and tax collection system. Abiyana, Maliyana, excise, income taxes. They are coupled with heavy implicit taxes through price fixing of the product and export taxes.
Agri sector is being destroyed with an archaic Patwari system that happens to be a low level baboo with powers that exceed those of our president.
It is time to lift the ceiling on the land ownership and farms be allowed to register as industrial concerns. This will allow more efficient farming and kick out the big landowners who either don't care about productivity or have no idea what productivity is. However this will need new policies to allow private entrepreneurship that is impossible in our commie leftie dominated economic policies as propounded by both the religious as well as non-religious parties.
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
If there was full, unhindered elections in Pakistan, as a miracle of Allah tala, who do you think would honestly win?
What would the share of votes be for each group of the political spectrum?
Re: A new Centrist Party in Pakistan
The fact that Musharraf has refused to take the leadership of the PML "Q" in all these years, does not rule out the chance that he could start his own centrist party.