ISLAMABAD: The PTI is going into elections without settling its issues with the military establishment or distancing its followers from the party’s Imran Khan vs Army narrative.
Following the arrest of Imran Khan and owing to the post-May 9 crackdown against the PTI, senior leadership of the party has become a bit careful. However, no serious effort has been made by the party to change the minds of its followers, who are still poisoned with the anti-Army narrative that led to the May 9 attacks.
Some independent observers believe that denying a level playing field to the popular PTI will lead to controversial elections, which could not give much needed political and economic stability to the country. However, it is feared that political instability will be worse if the PTI wins the elections and gets into power without settling its issues with the military establishment.
Present Chairman PTI Barrister Gohar Ali Khan assures that the PTI, if comes into power, will not fight with any state institution. The present PTI core committee also recently distanced itself from those PTI vloggers and social media activists who are campaigning against the institutions.
However, a US based vlogger, who has been a close aide of Imran Khan during his government, despite his anti-Army campaigns, was given space to make a speech by the PTI in its recent online Jalsa.
Similarly, the PTI and its core committee took no action against another vlogger -- who is Imran Khan’s friend, US-based Pakistani singer and a PTI key activist in Washington -- for spewing venom against the Army and its top commanders even during the recent US visit of the Army Chief and DG ISI.
The PTI and its core committee are also non-committal about allocating PTI election tickets to those who were directly involved in the May 9 attacks. On this issue, the PTI chairman is reported to have said that those who are eligible to contest the polls have the right to contest the polls.
No one knows whether Imran Khan, who has been leveling all sorts of allegations against the military leadership, has changed his mind or still thinks like before. Khan had blamed the former army chief for playing the role of handler in a US conspiracy to remove his government in April 2022. He also named some key generals, including ISI’s DG(C), to have been behind the planning to kill him.
After the May 9 attacks on army installations, buildings and symbols, Imran Khan started accusing the incumbent Army Chief of holding a “personal grudge” against him, blocking his return to power, ordering his arrest and for the crackdown on PTI.
Khan, who had reluctantly condemned the May 9 attacks after several days of these incidents, had termed May 9 a conspiracy against the PTI. Khan’s narrative against the top army leadership had poisoned the party followers and its social media against the institution and for the same reason campaigns after campaigns were launched on social media by PTI activists and followers against the army, its martyrs and top commanders.
On the other side, the military top command, Formation Commanders Conference and Corps Commanders, following the May 9 attacks, have already stated that the army is determined not to compromise on the trial of all those who had attacked the military installations, buildings, symbols, etc., under the Army Act and the Official Secrets Act.
Similarly, it was said that no propaganda, no campaign of human rights violation “to create a smokescreen” for hiding “the ugly faces” of all involved can save the culprits from punishment.
The ISPR press release, issued after the Formation Commanders Conference, had warned, “It has been further stressed that, while the legal trials of perpetrators and instigators have commenced, it is time that noose of law is also tightened around the planners and masterminds who mounted the hate ripened and politically driven rebellion against the state and state institutions to achieve their nefarious design of creating chaos in the country.”
With such a background, the PTI leadership had the chance to make all possible CBMs (confidence building measures) to bridge its gap with the army. The best option available for the PTI was to condemn the May 9 attacks without any ifs and buts, distance itself from the attackers and strongly negate the anti-army narrative of its social media and followers.
It did nothing and thus furthered the fears about political instability if the PTI wins.