Defections in Punjab

THE defection affair that has at its centre 47 PML-Q lawmakers in Punjab has many layers to it. Simply put, it relates to an elected lawmaker's loyalty to his party. Ideally, however, the lawmaker should be placed at the top of a pyramid supported by a solid base of elected party officials. And those who have been elected to party offices, instead of the nominated alternative that continues to be in vogue here, should have the authority to question one who changes allegiance. Party polls are practically alien to the country. Not only that, each side to the current dispute has been guilty of encouraging defection at some point. The PPP had all along feared a snub in Punjab and, in its own way, tried to pre-empt that move. The PML-N had been waiting for the opportune moment to rid itself of the PPP — which could only happen with PML-Q votes. The PML-N leaders had wooed PML-Q members as their twin who had been forcibly separated by a dictator. They were always ready for reunification with all the 'Q' men bar a couple whom they blamed for supervising the split. Legal interpretations aside, given the political mood in the province, they could easily have won over more than 47 'Q' men. The more intriguing part in the current equation is that the 'defectors' carry less of a moral burden than those they are benefiting and those they are hurting. In other democracies, this sharing is usually equal. The PML-Q was not among those who had nodded their approval to the Charter of Democracy (point 23 of the CoD declares defectors liable to disqualification, by virtue of a letter from the parliamentary leader to the speaker). The CoD was an instrument to beat a general with, one who happened to be the founder of the PML-Q. Gen Musharraf's detractors who had once vowed allegiance to the CoD have today been reduced to fighting for winning the favour of his men. The prime movers behind the ideal world of the CoD have since defected to the practicalities of power politics in Pakistan.