ISLAMABAD: Even at the height of his campaign to lock down the federal capital five days later on Nov 2, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan has stopped short of exercising his favourite option of ordering his lawmakers to quit the national and Punjab assemblies.
It’s quite likely that he has so far skipped this choice due to his bitter experience that he went through in 2014. At the end of the day, he and his horde had to retract their resignations in the face of scathing taunts and boos from certain ruling party leaders. National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had deliberately not accepted their resignations to avoid damage to the democratic setup.
However, since Imran Khan is unpredictable, it can’t be stated with certainty by keen political commentators and observers that he will stick to his present policy of remaining part of the federal and Punjab assemblies.
But even if he chooses to walk out of these two legislatures to serve a severe blow to the parliamentary dispensation, his lawmakers from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly are unexpected to join the bandwagon. Specifically, his coalition allies including the Jamaat-e-Islami and Qaumi Watan Party of Aftab Sherpao will definitely spurn this move because they want to live the whole five-year term of the legislature.
In 2014, despite his feverish efforts, the PTI chairman had failed to persuade KP Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak into abandoning the KP assembly. This was a glaring contradiction - the PTI lawmakers had left the national and Punjab assemblies for the simple reason that their party was in minority but remained glued to the KP legislature due to the fact that it was in majority there and had the provincial government.
One possible reason behind Imran Khan’s decision not to vacate the seats of the national and Punjab assemblies is that he still has faith in the present parliamentary arrangement and wants at all costs the ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from his coveted office. Last time, there were desertions by a set of lawmakers, who refused to agree to his decision. This time, he may face such an eventuality if he decides to resign.
As the option of quitting has not even been mulled over in the high level PTI meetings, none of its leaders has so far talked about it even slightly at any public forum. Every one of them is booming and thundering at a sonorous pitch to make the lockdown of the federal capital successful and using every trick in the bag for the purpose.
What Imran Khan and his associates are asserting, claiming and alleging is absolutely akin to their policy pursued in 2014. The PTI chairman’s barrage of corruption accusations hurled at Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif fell flat after the latter presented the facts. Not only this but the man, Javed Sadiq, also portrayed by the PTI chief as the frontman of the chief minister also rebutted the allegations with facts and figures. Importantly, he also stated that the contracts, mentioned by Imran Khan in his bundle of charges, which the Chinese companies have got, were awarded during the government of Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and Pervez Musharraf. Javed Sadiq also asserted that their bids were always rejected in which they participated during Shahbaz Sharif’s government.
This is not the first or the last installment of allegations that the PTI chairman has released. As the Nov 2 lockdown will draw close, he will level more similar charges, targeting his rivals, state functionaries and institutions.
The tendering of resignations in 2014 and not going for this option now marks a clear change of strategy, agenda and mission of the PTI. Earlier, the apparent aim was to demolish the democratic system. This time a different machination is being tested.
Previously too, the PTI had refused to accept any superior court ruling, which prohibited it from holding its protest. Now, the same has been repeated. Even in the wake of the decision of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Imran Khan announced that the lockdown would be imposed on Islamabad at any cost as the protest is their “legal and constitutional right”.
The defiance became more pronounced and blatant when he declared, “no power or deception can stop us from holding a sit-in in Islamabad.” Rather, he asked judicial institutions to halt the government from taking anti-democratic and revengeful measures as his people were being arrested, raids were being carried out at printers and the government was threatening transporters.
