Ban no solution

The talk of banning PTI is back in the corridors of power. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a hurriedly called moot consisting of civil and military leadership, hinted at taking the PTI to task for its repeated amassing on the federal capital, and called for a strategy to prevent such incidents in the future. At the same time, a resolution was passed by the Balochistan Assembly to ban the "anti-Pakistan" PTI, as a similar plea is up for debate in Punjab Assembly. This corresponded with an emergent session of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly which castigated the Centre and the powers-that-be for quelling the PTI's right to protest, which resulted in casualties in Islamabad on November 26.

It goes without saying that we never learn from history. The politics of exterminating opposition leaders and banning political parties has always backfired. Pakistan has a chequered history of discrimination and intimidation against political forces, and it is also a reality that all the banned parties and factions are alive and kicking today. ANP, PPP and the MQM were battered to the core but all of them mushroomed with new nomenclatures under the same leadership, and the state had to eat back its words. So was the case with street-mongering parties, such as TLP and PTM, and the bans slapped on them could not hold water. The PML-N, which now sits in judgment for PTI, too was victimised and its leadership had to opt for self-exile after being shown the door. Thus, walking the same trap is disgusting in essence and indicates that politics and parliamentary norms are at a fail.

The PTI and the coalition government have a responsibility, and that is to huddle together for finding a lasting political solution. The opposition for Governor's Rule by the ANP in K-P is mature politics, and shows the way for accommodation. The PTI's grievances in terms of its imprisoned leadership must be addressed, followed by hitting to the table and not by slapping a ban. Enough of political posturing and the misadventures of exterminating each other!