Changing trains

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) changes its political outerwear regularly. A change of outerwear makes the changing of trains easier and the latest hop-on wearing fresh duds is that the PTI is willing to board the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) train ‘if they are sincere in offering opposition to the government.’ As we have learned from recent past experience the PTI has a semantically flexible approach to the use of the word ‘sincere’. What ‘sincere’ becomes in the hands of a skilled manipulator is code for ‘if you do not do as I tell/ask you then there are going to be street protests and dharnas’. Thus it is that we learn that the PTI wholeheartedly supports the incoming Chief Justice in the hope that he will deliver ‘justice’ to the PTI in the form of a finding in its favour in respect of the by-now tedious Panama Papers affair. Any failure to deliver as per expectation, as in the apex judiciary not bending to the will of the PTI and the justices are consigned to the Outer Darkness for a perceived lack of sincerity.

Unfortunately, the PTI appears to have failed to read the signboards at the political station. The PPP is in no mood to form an alliance with anybody least of all the platform-hopping PTI and its garrulous leader. The PPP is after all in the process of cobbling together something of a parliamentary coup — if it can be pulled off — and the PTI are going to be excess baggage at a time when the last thing it needs is an awkward load. With ‘long marches’ these days generally coming down to a short ride on a well-appointed train finding the PPP and the PTI sharing a carriage is in the realm of the deeply unlikely.

Whatever happens in terms of alliances two major political parties are in something of a state of flux with direction to be clearly determined. None of these theatricals impinges in any way on the power or tenure of the sitting government of the PML-N. Indeed the reverse may be true, and changing trains can be a tricky business — especially when in motion.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2016.

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