Opposition alliance and PTI Government – face to face

Newly formed Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) with 11 parties coalition mainly PPP PMLN JUI, ANP have come up with its protests and public meetings with their main demand for the “immediate” resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan. This has created waves in the country. Though under complete censorship most of the papers are not reporting this new phenomenon and these papers are totally blank on this with TV anchors going with the government stance but in the period of Social media these developments cannot go behind any wall.

Though most of the writers are avoiding to analyze these developments but this is the time to come up with unbiased views mainly favoring people of Pakistan who are under the crux of immense inflation with rising prices, with no employment, with no business activities and with low agriculture growth.

In fact general masses are not servant of these political parties but they want the resolution of their issues through this struggle. Now it is upon these two factions that how they attract peoples on their sides. The alarming points are that international forces can take advantage of this tug of war. Pakistan has seen such situations many times before so it is the time that we may all stand with the right stances.

On one hand we have PTI who came in to power with its Naya Pakistan ideas with lot of free houses, millions of jobs and the prices at their low, but after two years they have mostly failed due to their bad governance and most of its ill timed decisions .The law and order situation has gone worst with attacks on our military personals by the terrorists. In cities abuse of women and children are on peak.

After consistent two years when Opposition parties stood separate with the hope to square up with the government and establishment, they remained prey to the NAB. It is also interesting that in spite of charges of corruption the prosecution has not been able to prove charges. Only they succeeded in putting them behind the bars. Examples are Khursheed shah and Mir Shakilur Rehman who are behind the bars with no proper allegations against them.

Now after sensing the ground realities these parties have come up with its 26-point agenda demanding that elections be held again in a transparent manner and that electoral reform should be passed in order to ensure free and fair polls. Terming the Parliament a “rubber stamp”, the PDM declares that the opposition will not cooperate with the government in the legislative process. It also demands that a new law of accountability be passed in the country that is in accordance with the Supreme Court’s verdict and recommendations from Human Rights Watch and Council of Islamic Ideology and would hold everyone accountable, including bureaucrats, lawmakers, judicial and army officials.

PDM also agreed upon a six-point action plan to depose the incumbent government, which would be implemented in phases. In the first phase that has started in October, opposition parties held joint rallies in Gujranwala and Karachi. The third is going to be held in Quetta on Oct 25, fourth in Peshawar on Nov 22, fifth in Multan on Nov 30 and the last one in Lahore on Dec 13. In January next year, the opposition will set out on a “decisive long march” towards Islamabad.

In Karachi particularly PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz lashed out at Prime Minister Imran Khan and the PTI government for what she claimed as tarnishing the army’s image by using it to hide [their] own failures.

However, it is the speech by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that has set the national discourse ablaze. In directly blaming the army chief and the head of the ISI for the removal of his government, and saying they will have to answer for all they have done, Mr. Sharif has brought Pakistani politics into uncharted territory. By doing so, he has amplified in the public domain what was hitherto fodder for whispers and innuendos. But this is not new for Nawaz Sahif. He has always done so when ever have been dragged to the wall and has incidentally always survived.

On this government declared everyone traitor including current PM of Azad Kashmir. Further the government spokesmen reacted predictably by ridiculing the opposition for  ‘flop shows’ but the fact is that with the Gujranwala and then with Karachi event the opposition and its red-hot narrative have taken centre stage. But the big question remains: what now?

The government for its part is not brimming with options. It has started  unleashing a wave of arrests and other obstacles to undermine the jalsas scheduled for the coming weeks in Peshawar, Multan and Lahore, but administrative solutions to political problems are usually not very effective. The government will somehow need to address the inflationary pressures bearing down on the citizens. One can expect a barrage of press conferences and statements combined with a degree of administrative repression from the government, but the real issue is how the establishment will react to the PDM campaign after the latest salvo by Mr. Sharif. Action will speak louder than words, but lack of action may speak even louder.

The Maryam Nawaz in Karachi justified the points raised by Nawaz. Maryam questioned why it was wrong for the PML-N supremo to say that Justice Shaukat Aziz and Justice Qazi Faez Isa should not be punished for following the law.

“You say we will ban PML-N. Don’t even think about it,” she warned. “This is PML-N, the biggest party of Pakistan. This isn’t PTI that can be banned by PML-Q that was created by Musharraf,” she said.

“If you ban PML-N, you will have to ban Pakistan’s masses as well. It is not just a party; it is the identity of millions of people

Bilawal, in his speech, lashed out at Prime Minister Imran for “betraying” the people of Karachi. “You must have heard of the Rs1000 billion,” he said. “Out of that Rs300b is from Sind’s ADP (Annual Development Program) and Rs100b is from the ongoing projects from the tenures of [former president] Zardari and [former prime minister] Nawaz Sharif,” he claimed. Bilawal also went on to question the PTI’s government’s strategy on Kashmir, accusing it of weakening Pakistan’s position through its policies. “He [PM Imran] claimed to be the ambassador of Kashmiris, but now he has become the lawyer of Kulbhushan [Jadhav]. He [PM Imran] has done a deal on Kashmir,” he alleged, adding that the rise of fascism in the country had weakened its stance on Kashmir and Modi. Summing up his speech, Bialwal said what the PDM wanted was “real democracy”“Where governments are made by people’s votes and not selectors.”

Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) leader Mohsin Dawar, Awami National Party’s Ameer Haider Khan Hoti , Mehmood Khan Achakzai of the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party welcomed the PDM’s leadership to the ‘lane of traitors’. “Traitor certificates for us, the followers of Bacha Khan, were issued in 1947. Our certificates are so old, they are moth-eaten by now. Yours are new, so we welcome them. So by this situation country is divided in to Patriots and traitors.

In Karachi on FIR of a convicted person Captain Safdar of PML N has been arrested due to his slogan raising in Qauids Mausoleum. This move of PTI created some mess but this also provided strength to PDM. So a zig zag is going on.

Now the question is that what can go next. Basically international forces are waiting for such a situation. FATF sword is hanging. So people of Pakistan request both sides not to use establishment names for their benefits and try to focus on peoples issues but unfortunately we are not seeing such a situation to emerge due to mindset of political leaders and for this history would not forgive them whosoever is going to be the responsible in going against peoples interests.