Confrontation, per se

The government and the PTI have crossed swords. Imran Khan's decision to shut the door of dialogue in reaction to the crackdown on PTI stalwarts, wherein legislators were abducted from inside the parliament's premises, has taken the political volatility to new heights. The Islamabad district administration went in for a witch-hunt against the PTI and grabbed anyone it could find on the pretext of violating the agreement to hold a rally on the outskirts of Islamabad on Sunday.

The beleaguered government made use of a tailor-made law, which it had enacted hours before the PTI rally, to crack down on the opposition by citing a scuffle with police and other auxiliaries that are otherwise pretty normal in such public gatherings. But what made feel the heat for the government itself is the brutal manner in which the hierarchy of the party was rounded up, and that also included the alleged detention of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister at an unannounced location.

The point of consolation, nonetheless, is the intervention of the National Assembly speaker who has ordered the release of all detained legislators; and the notice that Islamabad High Court had taken by summoning the IG Police. While it remains to be seen how cards fall in line, the PTI has opted for an extreme by severing any kind of communication with the powers-that-be too with which it itself was eager for a thaw.

The PTI feels that it has enough reasons to conclude that it is being taken for a ride, and all of its softies to find a way out of the crisis are being hoodwinked by the government. The ruling dispensation apparently is unnerved by the massive response that came in the form of the opposition rally, and is out to cite the diatribe of confrontation - besides the criticism on media and other organs of the state - that was uttered from the podium as an excuse to come down hard on the opposition. This new status quo is fraught with consequences, and there is no option at hand other than rescinding from stated positions.