Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speech at the PTI’s Parade Ground jalsa was supposed to unveil a big ‘surprise’. In fact, ever since the no-trust motion was submitted by the opposition, the PM had been promising the people of Pakistan a bombshell of an announcement at what the PTI said would be its ‘biggest’ jalsa yet. By the end of the evening – and a speech that went on for the better part of the evening – most were left struggling to understand just what the ‘surprise’ meant: a letter that the PM took out from his pocket and flashed before the crowd, claiming it was a written threat to his government from a foreign power. One wonders what the point of this big non-reveal was since the prime minister would neither tell who had written said letter nor what exactly it said, saying this was sensitive information that could only be shown off-the-record.
Before the Sunday night jalsa, there was rumour galore in the capital – was the big surprise a resignation? Or would the PM dissolve the Punjab Assembly? Or would he take on the issue of ‘neutrality’ in a big way? From his meeting with journalists a few days ago, it was reported that the PM had claimed how his allies, dissident members and even ‘neutrals’ would change their minds and come out in his support. From his speech last night, it seems the prime minister has read the room, sending out a message to the PTI’s dissenting members that the nation would not forgive them for voting against the government and that if they were so unhappy with the government they had the option to resign. The latest blow to the government had come a few hours before the jalsa: the PM’s SAPM on reconciliation and harmony in Balochistan and Jamhoori Watan Party leader Shahzain Bugti announcing his resignation from the federal cabinet.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has confirmed to a TV channel that the ‘letter’ has been shared with the military establishment. One wonders why then the prime minister chose to reveal it at his party’s ‘biggest’ jalsa, hardly a place for apparently sensitive state secrets. This is no small matter: a sitting prime minister is saying his government is under threat from a foreign power. If there is indeed a letter, it must by all means be made public. Otherwise, these remain allegations – who can forget the 35 punctures claim – by a prime minister facing a possible defeat in a no-confidence vote initiated by an opposition that according to political observers is now looking strong enough to pull this off. The opposition parties have continued their onslaught on the government – Maulana Fazlur Rahman holding a large rally, Maryam Nawaz and Hamza Shahbaz taking swipes at the PTI’s jalsa as well as what they call PM Imran Khan’s lack of governance. From an underwhelming trump card to drawing a bizarre analogy between himself and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s jalsa may have been big on the dramatics but ended up with much of the content we have come to expect from him. On the other end, the opposition is looking far too smug to be actually worried about the next week in politics; and the calculations for the allies may just have become easier than before. For the sake of argument, and since you never say never in politics, if the government does stay on, with PM Khan as the leader of the house, what next? The PTI’s allies have made it clear that they are not happy. Neither are its dissenting members. And if he is ousted, what will the opposition do to take Pakistan out of a political and economic quagmire that this regime leaves behind. At the moment, it seems the government is banking on a wing and a prayer.