hat appeared to be a moment of political reconciliation soon took an ominous turn, when following seat adjustment between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s treasury and opposition benches during the recent Senate elections, convictions of leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf were announced in cases relating to the May 9 events. This was followed by arrest of some PTI activists ahead of the anticipated protest demonstrations on August 5.

The Senate election for 11 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa seats was delayed on account of several disputes. First, the Supreme Court had allocated 25 reserved seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly to the Sunni Ittehad Council. However, hearing a review petition, a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court reallocated the seats to the PML-N, the PPP, the JUI-F, the ANP and the PTI-P. The speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly refused to administer oath to the MPAs hailing from the opposition parties on reserved seats in the provincial assembly. This led to the Peshawar High Court’s order that authorised Governor Faisal Karim Kundi to administer the oath.

Another controversy arose within the PTI. Some of the party leaders alleged that Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur had bypassed instructions by their incarcerated party chief Imran Khan regarding award of party tickets and had, instead, awarded tickets to those close to him. Gandapur denied the allegations and said that all the names—Murad Saeed, Faisal Javed, Noorul Haq Qadri, Azam Swati, Mira Afridi and Rubina Naz—had been finalised by Imran Khan.

Then came the surprise seat adjustment between the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the opposition. The treasury got six and the opposition bagged five seats. The PTI has 92 members in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and the opposition is 53-strong, with 25 reserved seats. The PTI and the opposition candidates won their seats according to the formula. The PML-N got one seat, the PPP two and the JUI-F two.

Two developments led to a perception that the political adversaries—the PTI and the ruling coalition in the federal government—were taking confidence-building measures to open doors for further negotiations to reduce political tensions. The first move was the acceptance of the nomination papers of Murad Saeed, a proclaimed offender in the May 9 cases, by the Election Commission of Pakistan. Some analysts took this as a sign of a possible truce between the PTI and the powerful quarters it has sought a dialogue with.

Next, negotiations between the PTI and its adversaries in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa concluded with a seat adjustment formula. Earlier, the PTI had refused similar offers to hold talks with these parties. After the election results, as per the settled formula, politicians on both sides started buying the idea that something was cooking behind the scenes. There was a faint hope that the party’s incarcerated leaders could get relief.

All rumours regarding reconciliation were put to rest when two anti-terrorism courts sentenced 40 PTI leaders and activists to imprisonment and fines in cases related to the May 9 events. 

Then surfaced the information that ballot papers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly were not pushed into the ballot boxes by the voters themselves. It was alleged that a PTI MPA would stamp his ballot paper and take it out of the hall to hand it over to another colleague, who would stamp his ballot paper and drop the other’s paper in the box. For this purpose, some members dropped plain, unmarked ballots in the box.

The alleged exercise invited strong criticism. Strong rebuttals from the ECP and the political parties followed. However, this further fuelled rumours about a ‘deal’ between the PTI and the federal government.

On Monday, however, all rumours regarding reconciliation were put to rest when two anti-terrorism courts in the Punjab sentenced 40 PTI leaders and activists to imprisonment and fines in cases related to the May 9 events.

An ATC in Lahore sentenced former provincial minister Dr Yasmin Rashid and Mian Mehmood-ur Rashid, former Punjab Governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema, Senator Ejaz Chaudhry and four others to long prison terms, while acquitting former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and five others for lack of evidence.

The court ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against Shah Mahmood Qureshi and five other accused. The court observed that Shah Mahmood Qureshi had not participated in any unlawful protest. Evidence presented to the court established that Shah Mahmood Qureshi was in Karachi on May 9.

The court noted that the investigating officers had been unable to provide concrete evidence against Qureshi. The court ordered that if Qureshi was not wanted in some other case, he should be released.

Qureshi’s acquittal resulted in another rumour: that he may be released soon and could lead the PTI. PTI’s secretary general Salman Akram Raja stepped in to clarify that Qureshi was not likely to be released soon because eight other cases against him were pending before various courts.

Meanwhile, PTI leaders allege that the Punjab and federal governments have ordered a crackdown against its activists ahead of the party’s August 5 protest in Lahore. The government denies the allegations.

Despite the speculation, the PTI seemed to have failed to derive a clear benefit from the Senate elections. The ruling coalition in the federal government has been the ultimate beneficiary as it now possesses a two-thirds majority in the Senate. The PPP has become the party with most seats in the upper house.

The writer is a senior journalist, teacher of journalism, writer and analyst. His X handle: @BukhariMubasher.