At loggerheads

The government and the opposition are at loggerheads with each other. It seems as if the political environment has reached the point of no return. The 11-party opposition alliance, the PDM, is reluctant to sit with the government for dialogue and demands for the resignation of the prime minister and seeks re-election. The government blames the opposition alliance for pursuing a foreign agenda to create political turmoil and instability in the country. The PDM is of opinion that the PTI-led incumbent government is a product of the highly controversial 2018 general elections. The government has replied to these allegations by saying that the PDM is conspiring to drag the country to a political crisis in order to weaken it economically and in other spheres. The PM has also asked the PDM to not hold public rallies due to a current surge in the spread of the deadly coronavirus across the country. On other hand, in Lahore, FIRs were registered against Maryam Nawaz and other PML-N leaders and workers over the violation of Covid-19 SOPs.

It is true that the country is in the middle of a crisis both internally and on the external front. The armed forces have been put on high alert to counter any aggressive attempt by India. Internally, the country is under the grip of rising inflation, security threats and acute power shortages. Under such circumstances, the government and the opposition need to act responsibly. In this regard, the responsibility falls on the government to show maturity and engage the angry opposition in dialogue. Any passivity on the part of the federal government will have disastrous consequences for this economically fragile country.

Guldar Khan Wazir

Loralai