Daily Times

The government’s secret deal with TLP (Tehreek e Labbaik Pakistan) is out in the open now. With its status as a legitimate political party restored, a far cry from the ‘terrorist outfit’ label slapped on it by the government just half a year ago, its workers and also its chief now released from jail, the party is taking the next logical step of preparing for the next election.

As such Saad Rizvi’s appeal to his followers to prepare to vote in the next election has effectively stood the electoral system in Punjab on its head. Everybody knows that it has a formidable vote bank in the province, arguably the most important province in the federation.

And given the experience of a coalition government in the present cycle, it’s already very clear to see that they will command very heavy influence in the next election.It’s widely expected to out-perform parties like PPP and PML-Q in the province, which could even raise it to the position of kingmaker when the next government is being put in place.

Seeing how the latter has been able to arm-twist the government although it has only a handful of seats, the dynamics of future voting patterns and government composition could well play out of TLP’s book. That should make all parties pull their socks up in a hurry, considering that TLP’s religious appeal can very easily make up for all the time that it has lost.There has, however, been a rather visible split at the cabinet-level over this matter.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary, especially, seems to believe that the state was forced onto the back foot, which led to TLP’s removal from the fourth schedule, its reinstatement from a terror organisation to a mainstream political party, and the release of Saad Rizvi from jail.

Yet now that everything has been agreed, in secret, whether or not such disagreements or the people who raised them, even matter any more remains to be seen. However, it can be said with a fair degree of certainty that TLP will be able to punch above its weight in the next general election. *