Daily Times

You cannot write off Maulana Fazlur Rehman from the political landscape regardless of his party’s electoral performance. He has repeatedly risen from the ashes of obscurity like a phoenix, forming unlikely alliances to come out of difficult situations.

This was just as true in 2018 as now, seeing a long queue of potential friends pinning their hopes on having him by their side. The frenzy began with speculations of him potentially in cahoots with PTI as he demanded two senate seats in exchange for complete support in the parliament.

Hearing of this, President Asif Ali Zardari quickly headed for his doorstep in an attempt to rekindle old connections, which was almost instantaneously followed by a visit from none other than the prime minister. Their tone and tenor may differ, but the overarching agenda of the coalition government appears to dissuade Maulana from joining hands with PTI, especially ahead of significant legislation being tabled in the national assembly and the senate on the issue of reserved seats.

Mending bridges might take a little more time because, despite beaming smiles and warm embraces, there is still a lot of bad blood between them. Not too long ago, JUI leaders openly spoke of Maulana eyeing the seat of the presidency if his allies from the grand 11-party alliance won the majority seats in the February polls. Then again, his consistent all-round ability to make adjustments for power is an open secret.

In a manner befitting successful politicians, he may have launched protests against the “fake government,” been courted by mainstream political parties, and even made bombshell revelations yet knows when to play the right card.

Since hope trumps experience, may the nth time be a charm and our honourable leaders realise that reducing politics to a game of winning shifts attention away from the people’s desire for them to stop arguing and try to work together for the bigger, more relevant issues.

At this point, an effective collaboration could greatly strengthen the government’s will to launch counterterrorism operations and navigate through choppy economic waters. Whether they like it, a sinking ship would be of no use to any of them. *