Bhutto about-turn: Behind the PPP plan to back Pakistan’s new government

What is the party’s reasoning behind joining a coalition with its longtime rivals without cabinet positions?

Islamabad, Pakistan: On January 19, three weeks before Pakistan’s general elections, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, former foreign minister and chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), appeared for an interview on a private news channel.

Criticising the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) leadership – consisting of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif – the PPP chief said that the PMLN’s policies had hurt the country’s economy.

When the host asked Bhutto Zardari if he would be open to the idea of forming a coalition with the PMLN after the February 8 elections, if either party failed to secure a majority on its own, the 35-year-old scion of Pakistan’s Bhutto family was categorical in his response.

“Who told you that the PPP will form a coalition government with them [PMLN]? I have stated this before as well: ‘Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me’,” he said.

Less than four weeks later, Bhutto Zardari’s father, former president Asif Ali Zardari, held a press conference alongside leaders of various parties, including the PMLN, announcing a coalition government on February 13.

“God willing, we will take Pakistan out of difficulty,” Zardari said, five days after the February 8 vote. He downplayed past rivalries, saying, “Opposition happens in elections. It was electioneering opposition, not ideological opposition.”

The February 8 polls ended with independent candidates backed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) winning 93 seats, despite the party facing a severe crackdown from government agencies and security forces in the