If there isn’t any slip between the cup and the lip, two provinces are on the verge of going to polls. PTI chief Imran Khan’s roulette to dissolve the assemblies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab on December 23 has set the ball rolling. This decision, if it goes ahead uninterrupted, will put about two-thirds of the country to ballot, and furthermore the resignations of PTI MPAs from Sindh and Balochistan will lead to a mammoth pace of bye-poll electioneering. This strategy of former Prime Minister Imran Khan to throw away two of his own well-entrenched governments seems to be a desperate attempt to seek general elections in the country. While he and his interlocutor, President Dr Arif Alvi, have not been able to convince the coalition government to throw in the towel and dissolve the National Assembly, the strategic pause of five days till Friday is apparently meant to bring the powers-that-be on board.
The curtain on the eight-month long agitation campaign came down on Saturday night as Mr Khan flanked with both the chief ministers announced calling it a day. The screenshot of the appearance spoke a million words, and it was clear that PTI has decided to walk away from the legislators. Likewise, it is mulling to prevail over the Speaker National Assembly to sign off the already submitted resignations of their MNAs. The point is to pressurise the government to give up. To what extent it works out to PTI’s way is hard to guess, as the government is up for fireworks in Punjab by reportedly moving a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Pervez Elahi, and putting in top gear the administration to go after the PTI supporters and loyalists in a witch-hunt campaign. Disqualifying Mr Khan and his possible arrest in any flimsy case are also tools of intimidation on the board.
The buck has now convincingly stopped at the powerful door of the Establishment. They will have to take a call to diffuse the polarising situation, and that too at a time when the economy sits at the brink. Ushering in political stability and bringing to an end to the prolonged confrontation are indispensable. The pendulum has swung.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2022.
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