
All of the mass events organised by the PTI since the ‘dharna days’ in Islamabad in 2014 have been notable for one thing and one thing only — they achieved precisely nothing. They have got nowhere near unseating the prime minister and if anything have enhanced the obduracy of the sitting government. The wrangle over the terms of reference (ToR) relating to the commission of enquiry that is supposed to look into the Panama Papers affair drags on, unaffected or influenced by Container Politics. Now yet more civil disruption is to be foisted upon a weary public who may be less inclined to turn out than they were two years ago, the PTI star having lost some of its lustre. As noted previously in these columns, parliament is something of an irrelevance to the PTI (and other parties it must also be noted), and there is a lack of originality in political thinking at the national level that is akin to the parties having ‘special needs’ when seen through the prism of a human metaphor. The paralysis of Lahore extends both the metaphor and the sense of futility. Canoes, creeks and the absence of a paddle come to mind. Think again, Mr Khan.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 20th, 2016.
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