PPP, PTI are so near yet so far

ISLAMABAD: No meeting between Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan is on the cards to strengthen the newfound bonhomie between the two parties.

“No such session is in the offing,” PPP Information Secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira confirmed when approached by The News for his view. Similarly, he said, no meeting between Imran Khan and Bilawal would be held on Tuesday. It was earlier announced, apparently to give a boost to the talk of the opposition’s anti-government campaign on the issue of a judicial probe into the offshore companies that the two leaders will hold a session on Tuesday.

It was also stated that they will attend a meeting of the loose opposition alliance on Tuesday. However, Kaira said only senior leaders of the component parties will attend these deliberations. They will reach some conclusion about the plan and schedule for protest amid rejection of any agitation by some parties.

Senior PTI leader Asad Umar has also been quoted as saying that no meeting between Imran Khan and Bilawal was planned. The similar views of the two sides reflect that they are yet to travel a long distance and take care of many contentious issues before they will meet each other to give a fillip to the combined opposition’s campaign and take the cooperative relations between these two parties to new heights. Also, the spectacle of the two leaders sharing the rooftop of the same shipping container to protest is not in sight. Some leaders of both sides especially a set of the PPP stalwarts are eager to see them leading street agitation together.

Maybe disenchanted with the withdrawn, inhibited approach of the topmost PPP leadership to any opposition protest drive, Imran Khan did not spare Asif Ali Zardari during his address to an election rally in Bagh, Azad Kashmir, on Monday. He showered his criticism on him after a long time.

A ‘chor’ (thief) will never make another ‘chor’ accountable, he said referring to the high-sounding claims of Shahbaz Sharif that he would tear apart Zardari’s stomach to get the corruption money. He thus called both Sharif brothers and Zardari thieves.

The PTI chief also said the Sharif brothers used to assertthat when voted to power they would bring back Zardari’s money from abroad. “Why didn’t they do this?” Moreover, Imran Khan did not talk about the launch of protest by the joint opposition but repeatedly stated that “I will do this and I will do that” to make the Nawaz Sharif government topsy-turvy if there was no accountability of the prime minister.

His attack on Zardari and projection of his own plan to begin the protest single-handed were reflective of his passion to go for a solo flight. His original plan to tee off his public agitation immediately after Eidul Fitr had not been implemented, and even after the passage of two weeks there are no signs of it. He is perhaps waiting for a go-ahead from the opposition alliance, which doesn’t seem forthcoming as every party has its own priorities and preferences.

No component of the opposition coalition including the PPP is ostensibly poised to disturb the democratic applecart while the PTI is hell-bent to create mayhem and chaos for its own political objectives.

If at all the PPP participated in any joint public protest for which there are remote chances, it will be merely symbolic. It is more interested in knocking at the doors of other forums like the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Supreme Court against the prime minister. However, the PPP’s actions will be restrained and controlled.